The father of bluegrass Bill Monroe once said, “learn bluegrass and then go out and get your own style.”
For the international trio, The
Greencards, this stoic wisdom could not be more relevant. At their core The Greencards are three
musicians who learned traditional bluegrass in their home countries of Australia and the United Kingdom,
moved the United States and then forged their own path in the world of traditional American music.
While thousands of native pickers across the U.S. spend countless hours working on bluegrass standards
and performing “Foggy Mountain
Breakdown” note for note, this trio has taken the spirit of tight harmonies and fiery instrumentals and
used it to create a sound and style all their own.
“When we made our first record, it was definitely the most traditional, but still you could tell that we
weren’t from Kentucky or North Carolina,” lead vocalist, bassist and native Australian Carol Young said
in a recent telephone interview. “When we played songs live we realized that things that worked in our
favor were not pretending to be an American bluegrass band, because we are not.”
The Greencards will perform at the Cla-Zel Thursday. Young is joined by the very talented mandolinist and
countryman, Kym Warner and violinist/multi-instrumentalist Eamon McLoughlin (United Kingdom).
It is important to note how a band like The Greencards came to where they are… that is headlining
bluegrass festivals across the country, producing a critically-acclaimed album on a major bluegrass and
Americana label, Sugar Hill, and winning over bluegrass and non-bluegrass fans around the country.
While international bluegrass bands have existed in Australia, Japan, Italy and the UK for decades, the
availability of music, instruments and proficient players has been very minimal until the internet age.

For Young, finding American bluegrass was a natural extension of her love for traditional country music
and a small, but dedicated group of like-minded Australian musicians that regularly met to play and
share the music they were learning.
“As I got into studying that style of music I was looking deeper, more traditional with harmonies and the
good stuff, and through this I found bluegrass music,” she said. “It was not easy to find in Australia
because we just don’t have the bands, we didn’t get the touring acts… and the music was pretty much
not in the stores.”
“You would have to import the CDs, which was a difficult thing,” she added. “If you knew friends that
were going to America you would say ‘can you go to a store and track down Bill Monroe?’ so that was the
only way that we could study the music.”
Warner, a four-time Australian mandolin champion, was the first band member to venture to the United
States, Austin, Texas, specifically. Young joined him shortly thereafter, and they began jamming in
clubs where they eventually met McLoughlin.
From there The Greencards were born, first as club band playing for tips and then a full-touring outfit.
While their full-length album, 2004’s “Moving On” was somewhat traditional, the band was searching for a
different sound almost as soon as they began working on live and studio material.
“I don’t think there has been a time in the band’s career that we haven’t been pushing just to see what
the band can do,” Young said. “Maybe one of the reasons why we have stayed together for seven years and
enjoy playing music is because we don’t have to stay in the same genre. We get to push a little bit, and
that is a very nice thing.”
With the release of its fourth album, “Fascination” and key spots at bluegrass festivals including
Telluride and Merle Fest as well as other festivals including Lollapalooza, 2009 has proven to be a
banner year for the band.
However, for members of The Greencards, now based in Nashville, Tenn., the clearest indication of their
continued success is that in the release of their new album, which essentially redefines the band
stylistically, they not only found new fans, but kept their old ones.
“You don’t want to fall into the trap of trying to please everyone, but it is nice when your old fans
stay on board and they totally get what you are trying to do, and you grab a few new ones along the
way,” Young said.