Saturday June 2, 2012

From the first notes struck together in 2003 through tours with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, the Greencards have won steadily escalating acclaim for their multi-dimensional Americana vision. Their releases have topped the Billboard Bluegrass charts while two singles have garnered Grammy nominations. This four piece band, spearheaded by Australians Carol Young and Kym Warner, is interested less in past accomplishments than in looking ahead for new goals to achieve. Their latest release is also in many ways their most significant and impressive to date. Produced and engineered by studio veteran Justin Niebank (Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Keith Urban), The Brick Album is the first to successfully infuse The Greencards’ eclectic musical references with the excitement they generate onstage. Their music is rhythmically irresistible, balancing taste and technique, engaging lyrics and melodies and wildly creative arrangements. There may be a wall on its cover, but the future suggested on these tracks knows no barrier. Each step they’ve taken has widened their appeal. They’ve earned ovations from “newgrass” music devotees at MerleFest and rocked loyalists at Lollapalooza.