The Greencards
Weather and Water
Dualtone Records

    The Greencards create such pastoral bluegrass/traditional country music, it’s hard to believe they’re not from the U.S.  Nope, like Kasey Chambers, these three sojourners on the Americana music trail, forge their musical vision from the land down under (although fiddler-player Eamon McLoughlin hails from England).  And though the beauty of The Greencards is self-apparent, it is just a wee bit disconcerting.  The band is good, but just flat tries to hard for “down home” authenticity.
    Vocalist/bassist Carol Young, warbles sweetly in a manner similar to Dana Manning, high and clear.  McLoughlin and mandolin picker Kym Warner accentuate the songs in a rich spray of Celtic clovers.  And all three find an internal rhythm to the songs without any percussion or drums.  For the longest time in the history of country music, the Grand Ole Opry wouldn’t allow drums on its stage, so the Greencards make points with purists here.  
    Utilizing engineer Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek), the band produced its debut.  It is an effort in integrity, a quest for honesty.  But while Nickel Creek push at the boundaries of bluegrass, the Greencards seem content to stay within its perimeters, with the sole exception of Young employing an electric bass.  From the opening “The Ghost of Who We Were,” through the clever take on Tom Petty’s “Long Way Down” to “Bordered on a Breakdown,” the Greencards trio never falters in their determination.  Yet as lovely as it all is, it’s akin to white kids trying to play the “blues” without truly understanding the dirt, blood, and sweat that created the genre in the first place.  Given time the Greencards will probably produce more boundary shifting Americana, from their non-American selves.
                    
  -David Elliott
staff writer
dallasmusic.com