If you’ve lived in Austin for the past few years, chances are you have seen The Greencards perform a set or two. Although they have now relocated to Nashville, The Greencards rarely took a day off as they soaked up the Austin scene. Touring off their first album, Movin’ On, they quickly made fans and a name for themselves; the trio even masterfully played one of the most energetic sets of the 2004 Austin City Limits Music Festival.
The band consists of Aussies Kym Warner (mandolin, vocals) and Carol Young (bass, vocals), and a Brit, Eamon McLoughlin. This summer you can find them opening up for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson across the United States as they are taking their high-energy bluegrass show in front of their largest audiences to date. If you can’t make it out to see them, you can catch up with them on their website (www.thegreencards.com) and read McLoughlin’s many candid journal entries.
The Greencards released their second record, Weather and Water, on June 28th. Glide recently had a chance to speak with Kym Warner about Austin and Nashville, Bob Dylan, and the evolution of the band.
I know that you and Carol came over from Australia. What was it like meeting Eamon, who is British, in Austin, Texas?
It was interesting. Carol and I came over together from Australia and, as you know, the music scene in Austin is incredible. So running into Eamon was a very fortunate thing. But not surprising in a sense, because there’s musicians everywhere. And one of the reasons we moved there was to sort of put an ensemble together. And we were lucky enough to run into Eamon and hit it off straight away. We had a lot in common musically. We probably didn’t expect to run into an English guy, who sort of played the same sort of music that we did, but that’s just how it worked out.
Yeah, when I listen to your music it’s very interesting in the fact that two different kinds of cultures are coming together and playing bluegrass in the United States.
People find it real interesting that it’s two Australians and a Brit playing what’s pretty much referred to as an American style of music, although we draw heavily on influences from stuff that we’ve grown up listening to in our own countries. But yeah, we do get a lot of comments about that and people find that intriguing, I think. But music is like a universal language, it really is and you find pockets of people all over the world that are into various things, and bluegrass is one of those things. By no means is it common to be playing bluegrass in Australia at all. I mean, I grew up with my Dad as a banjo player, and that was not the normal thing in Australia. And you meet people all over the world who have a similar story. You can go to the Czech Republic and meet all these great players from there.
You mention that bluegrass not being the most popular music from Australia, but one Australian who has had success here in the US is Kasey Chambers. And I know you have played with her. Did she help you out at all in the early stages of your career?
Well, no, not really. You see, Kasey’s Dad and my Dad grew up playing music together. So we’ve been family friends our entire lives. My Dad and I would go out and hang out with them and get up and play with them and things like that. I toured with Kasey a couple of times and did a couple of things in Australia with her. But we were both on our own path—before we started playing together.
The Greencards are now based out of Nashville, but let’s talk about Austin some more. You have listed people like Robert Earl Keen and Kelly Willis, who live in Texas, as influences. You actually cover a Patty Griffin song (“What You Are”) on Weather and Water. Is that what was so great about Austin—having so many talented people surrounding you?
No doubt. One of the best things about Austin is the songwriting and the personnel that is in that town. You already mentioned people like Robert Earl Keen, but even going back to when Steve Earle and Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt were on the scene. And now someone like Patty Griffin—an unbelievable songwriter. That was an inspiring thing to be around. We didn’t write a lot of songs before coming over to the US and being around that certainly is great and maybe it rubs off on you a little bit.
I got to see The Greencards at Gruene Hall, which is a little bit outside Austin and also at the Austin City Limits Festival. Places like Gruene Hall—the history is amazing; it is Texas’ oldest dance hall, so playing a place like that on regular basis must have been special.
Yeah it was pretty cool. We were well aware of Gruene Hall even back in Australia, it is a pretty famous place. Anyone who is anyone has played there, so it was a real kick when we got to do our first show out there. And as it turns out we have got to play it countless times over the last few years. There is a real vibe in that place, you can really feel it. There is a tradition in that room when you play there. People just really go there to listen to music and people come in all day long.
And your transition from Austin to Nashville, was it more of a business decision? I know that you had creative control when you made Weather and Water.
The relationship with the label (Dualtone) is fantastic, we are good friends with them all and they did let us make the record we wanted to make. We wanted Gary Paczosa to engineer it and they came up with the plans to do that. They let us record the songs we wanted to record and they didn’t get in the way at all. I guess that’s a good sign of what they think about us, too. They were comfortable enough with us to let us make a record that they thought was good enough and it feels really great to have that relationship with your label because not everyone does. (laughs) Not everyone walks up and says here’s our 12 songs and hands it in at the end of the recording and they go, “Brilliant! We’re putting it out!”
And you know, the transition to Nashville, yeah it was mainly a business decision. But it’s sort of a three-fold thing. It’s the business relationships we’ve got with the label and management and their booking agent are all based in Nashville. We thought it was important to be in same town as those guys in the early stages in our relationship. And it’s so much more central to tour out of Nashville. A good majority of our touring is based around the East coast, the Carolinas, Virginia, up through Pennsylvania, and even New York State. There’s a lot of touring there and it’s a long way from Austin.
And a lot of people choose to record in Nashville, too.
Yeah, it is no secret that this is an amazing town, studio-wise. So many great studios, so many great engineers, so many great musicians here. Not that Austin doesn’t have that, but Nashville has a plethora of that stuff. They make great records here, they always have. We made our first record here and we made the last one here. They’ve been doing it for a long time and they’ve been doing it really well. And the other thing about coming here is that although Austin has a lot of great artists, it doesn’t have a lot of the acoustic-type and bluegrass-type players like Nashville does. There are still some good ones in Austin, but Nashville has the majority of them. All of the artists we grew up listening to, all the records we were inspired by, most of them were made here and most of the players are still here. And we wanted to throw ourselves in with the big boys, so to speak and see if that rubs off.
I think it’s already rubbing off. You’re about to go on tour with two of the biggest names in music, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. What was your initial feeling when you found out that you would be opening for them?
Ridiculous at first—a total shock. When we went to Nashville and sat down with our booking agent, and you put your wish list in—what do you want to try to do this year, who do you want to tour with, etc—Bob Dylan was the first guy on the list. Willie was also on the list. We read off a bunch of names, just hoping. And when we got that phone call…(pauses) it really didn’t sink in at all, and it still kind of hasn’t. Until two weeks after, when the word started to get around, I logged onto Bob Dylan’s website and I saw the poster with our faces on it and I thought, “Bloody hell! Man, we are doing this!” It’s kind of sinking in a little bit, but I think when we walk into the stadium for the first show in Florida and see Bob’s bus and maybe get a look at him or his band and Willie, it’s gonna be like, “Wow, we are doing this.” That first day, that’s where it’s going to be like, “Oh my God!”
Will this be the first time you have met Bob or Willie?
I’ve met Willie a couple times, once in Australia and once or twice in Texas. I’ve never ever met Bob Dylan, never been in the same town as him. (laughs) We were talking about this the other day, if you rattle off the great five songwriters that are alive today, this guy right up there, you know. We’re talking as intellectual as The Beatles. So this is incredible to be a part of a show like this. We’re talking about two great artists in American history and music history. We’ve listened to Willie for years and the last few years I’ve been on a serious Bob Dylan kick. I listen to everything I can of Bob Dylan. I’m really trying to absorb some of that as a songwriter. We’re all in our early stages of our songwriting lives and I’m trying to get my head around how on earth he came up with some of that stuff, Willie too. We can’t overstate how amazing this is for all of us.
What is your favorite Dylan record?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I’ve been listening to Blonde on Blonde a lot lately and Planet Waves, which I love. It’s hard to pick one Dylan record. Blood on the Tracks—I was on that one for a few months, listening to it every day. I just keep finding stuff, there’s so much bootleg stuff. The first thing I really started listening to was Times They Are A-Changin’, I had that in my car, drove around Texas listening to it every day. He hasn’t really made a bad one! (laughs)
One of the best things about touring with Dylan has to be that you are going to be playing your new music in front of larger audiences.
We really are excited about it. Going back to the Austin scene, one of the real strong points about Austin is you can put on an ensemble there whether you are a singer-songwriter, duo, or whatever—you can play four or five nights a week and people want to hear it. They want to hear new tunes, original music. So we had a great opportunity to do that. And we have kept 4 or 5 tunes off the new record that we haven’t played live yet. We just didn’t want to give it all away. And now we’re going to get the opportunity to play them.
What was different about recording these songs versus the songs from Movin’ On, your first album?
Our first record we made with David Sinko, who is a wonderful engineer, a world-class engineer. And for this record, we worked with Gary Paczosa. And Gary’s records have influenced us as much as any musician has. When we first heard his Alison Krauss record, and then Nickel Creek, and the Dixie Chicks it was like, “Man the sound of those records—that is something to strive for.” So going into this second record, we were a little more prepared because we have been a band for three years. When we made the first record, we were playing together for six months maybe. I think the shape of the music has really now evolved to what The Greencards really are. And going into making a record with Gary Paczosa, it really kicked us in the pants, so to speak. It really made us do our homework, and be prepared, and be on our game. The excitement of getting Gary really pushed the band, I think.
The instrumental pieces on this album are very energetic.
If there was something that was said about the first record it was that it really didn’t capture the energy that the band has live. I think we were pretty aware that we wanted to capture that a little more on this record. And that comes from knowing who we are and being a bit more comfortable as a band. So yeah, I am glad you noticed that because that was something we worked on.
That was my first impression of the album.
That’s great, I am really glad to hear you say that. Subconsciously, we were trying to pull that off on this record.
And you wrote nearly all of songs on this record.
That is very important for us. When we first started, we were very much a cover band, like a lot of bands that first start out. And it wasn’t too long before we started writing a few things. We don’t want to be a cover band. We love the fact that we can write songs and get out and road test them. And people will let you know if they like them right away (laughs). Some of the songs we played for audiences didn’t go over too well. But it’s really important to us. We have a couple of cover songs on the record, the title track was written by our friend Jedd Hughes, and of course the Patty Griffin song, “What You Are.” It’s kind of hard to get stuff that suits you as much as you write. We write stuff for ourselves—stuff that we feel The Greencards can play.
And all three of you can sing.
Well that is debatable sometimes! (laughs) It’s something that we enjoy doing. I think it’s nice to be able to change it up. Carol is by far the strongest singer in the band, no question about that. But she loves singing harmony, too. So I became one of the singers in the band by default because Carol is such a strong harmony singer. So it has kind of worked out alright. No one has ever told one of us not to sing! (laughs)
I think one of the things Gary was able to do was to push us vocally. And that was something that was lifted up on this record. At least I hope that is the case. Certainly Gary was really wonderful and we’re very thankful for that.
The style of your mandolin playing—you very much go with the flow, it seems natural.
Well I take that as a really nice compliment. When I first started playing, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just learned some stuff and started to play it. And more and more the thing that I have enjoyed is being in a band and being in a unit and trying to play something that applies to the song, as opposed to just playing a new lick that you got, which a lot of people are guilty of. I would have new licks and play them all the time and shoved them everywhere I could! (laughs) It is so much more enjoyable for me to play parts in a song, if you will. Just to look at the whole picture of the song—that’s really what I love. I really enjoy having structure within a song.
As far as it coming naturally, I have to disagree with you because I find it very hard! (laughs) I mean I look at Chris Thile of Nickel Creek, and that comes naturally and I think to myself, “I really have to work on my mandolin playing.” When I was in Australia, I didn’t get to play mandolin very much. There’s just really not a lot of work for a mandolin player, I had to play guitar in country bands, and that was fun. But I really love playing mandolin and I want to get good at it and want to learn more about it. So this is a really great band for me to be doing that in.
Are you friends with Chris Thile?
No…um…a lot of people are, he’s such a good guy. I’ve run into him couple of times and he still wouldn’t know who I was. He is just an amazing musician, an amazing mandolin player. There are a lot of guys that I have been listening to and he has sort of raised the bar when it comes to mandolin playing. Sam Bush was the first guy I listened to and when I heard him it changed my life. That’s when I first started wanting to be a mandolin player. And in Nashville there are so many great players so I’m just hoping some of that might rub off onto me.
