The Greencards Biography

The Greencards Biography

The Greencards are an American progressive bluegrass band from Austin, Texas that formed in 2003. Known internationally as a popular Americana musical act, they have to date released one independent album and two albums through Dualtone Records, a Nashville, Tennessee label. The band was formed by two Australians, Kym Warner and Carol Young, and one Englishman, Eamon McLoughlin, who had all immigrated to the United States and specifically Austin to work as bluegrass musicians. Growing up, each of the band members had been exposed to a variety of American country and bluegrass musical talents, such as George Jones, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Ricky Skaggs.Meeting at a recording session, the three quickly bonded, and they began playing and recording music together shortly thereafter. In order to raise funds to record their new songs into an album, the group began to perform locally in Austin, and adopted the band name of "The Greencards" for their billing. Within months they were one of the more popular bands in Austin, and they began touring regionally. In 2003 they self-released their first album, Movin' On, leading to radio play and winning local Austin music awards in the process.

The success of their debut led to a recording contract with Dualtone Records, who produced their second album, Weather and Water, and also re-released Movin' On. More radio play and awards followed, along with Country Music Television naming their second album one of the ten best bluegrass albums of 2005. The Greencards were invited to tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson throughout 2005 as a result. In 2007, The Greencards released their third studio album under Dualtone Records, Viridian. The 2007 album would go on to take the #1 position on Billboard magazine's Bluegrass Music Chart, making The Greencards the first international band to ever do so. Viridian was a critically praised album, and the track "Mucky the Duck" was nominated for a Grammy Award at the 50th Grammy Awards, but did not win. The Greencards were noted for their playing of American bluegrass with a worldly feel, and for their incorporation of other genres of music. Often labeled part of and said to be representative of the "newgrass" movement, they were said to draw from Irish traditional, European gypsy, rock 'n' roll, folk balladry, and Latin American musical sources in the creation of their sound.  The Greencards have been compared favorably to both Nickel Creek and Alison Krauss & Union Station in terms of their work in growing the scope of bluegrass music. Their appeal has been attributed to both their "instrumental dexterity" as much as the manner in which they both revere and flaunt bluegrass conventions. The Greencards have described their sound as "high energy acoustic music".  In the wake of Viridian, The Greencards have been internationally referred to as one of the most popular Americana musical acts in the United States.  Bruce Elder went on to say that the band may after Viridian be the best country music performers to ever come out of Australia.