Graham Reid | | <1 min read
The Greencards: All The Way From Italy
Canny name for a band of two Australians and an Englishman who formed in Austin in 2003 to play high-energy fiddle-driven bluegrass and alt.country.
The following year these imports were named Best New Band at the Austin Music Awards, they subsequently opened for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, and last year they were nominated in the best new artist category at the Americana Music Association awards.
It's been a quite a four-year/three-album career for them. Let's hope they get their Green Cards.
The label "bluegrass" is a little deceptive as on a first hearing it is the alt.country and folk-framed ballads, and Carol Young's vocals, which have the immediate impact, but then rapid-fire mandolin and fiddle kick into the consciousness and you can see why Rolling Stone said, "This imported bluegrass trio is creating some of the finest Americana music around".
Fans include Rosanne Cash ("a little island of truth and beauty") and Buddy Miller (I was blown away").
If flat-tack bluegrass is your thing then there is enough here for you, if it's not (and it really isn't mine) then there are all the other songs which are quite outstanding.
A little something for everyone, and a lot of pleasures all round.
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