Movin' On

Album Review

Bluegrass trio the Greencards might be from Australia (bassist Carol Young and mandolin player Kym Warner) and Great Britain (fiddler Eamon McLoughlin) — hence the punning band name — but the three musicians are so thoroughly committed to traditional acoustic bluegrass that their debut album doesn't sound like either a gimmick or an affectation. All three sing, but Young — previously a solo country performer of some repute Down Under — has a notably better voice than either of her male counterparts, sounding something like an antipodean Kelly Willis on the sweetly emotional title track. The songs are a mixed bag of instrumentals, original songs and a well-chosen selection of covers highlighted by a terrific duet by Young and Warner on Robert Earl Keen's "Love's a Word I Never Throw Around" and the album's high point, a Fairport Convention-like version of Gillian Welch's "Caleb Meyer." The instrumentals are a uniformly strong lot as well, showing off the trio's impressive sense of rhythmic interplay. A better line in original material and the Greencards could give better-known folks like Nickel Creek and Union Station some serious competition.