The Greencards: The Lucas School House, St. Louis, MO

A few years ago when The Greencards were asked to spend their summer touring with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, Kym Warner figured that he would at least get the chance to pick the great American songwriter’s brain for a few minutes.  Instead, all he got was a brief moment at the end of the tour when a hurried and mumbling Dylan told the young trio, “You’ll be fine from now on.” 

It seems that The Greencards have taken those few words to heart.

With their third album, Viridian now released, The Greencards finally sound like the confident band from Australia and Britian that we all knew existed within Carol Young’s bass and vocals, Kym Warner’s magical mandolin, and Eamon McLoughlin’s fiddle.  During their two-set performance at the plush Lucas School House, the trio, along with a guest guitarist (it seems they have a new one every 5 or 6 shows), flowed through mostly new material, mixing an instrumental here and there to show off their jaw-dropping playing speed, all while precisely proving their talents.  Viridian’s “River of Sand” and “Waiting on the Night” carried the first set through a broken string that halted the show, prompting McLoughlin to tell a story about touring with LeAnn Rimes and her love for ice cream (that’s all you really want to know).

After a short break to have a drink and mingle with the crowd, Young treated the audience with solid performances of “The Ghost of Who We Were” and Patty Griffin’s “What You Are”. The older material again gave way to more new material, including the catchy “Here You Are”, which reminded us again that The Greencards aren’t strictly a bluegrass band.  It was somewhere in the middle of Kym Warner’s mandolin solo during “You Pulled Me Out” where the truth about this blossoming band was revealed to my ears: no matter how much time you have for them, they’re going to be just fine.