“Man, I wonder how many babies have been made to Barry White’s Greatest Hits” asks Greenlight Caravan vocalist and guitarist, Mark Clark. “It’s one of the great mysteries of life” he grinningly states to lead guitarist, Eric McClanahan. “My parents had a vinyl copy of it and I remember the cover looking like a shiny bar of sexy, solid gold baby”. McClanahan jokingly replies “it’s more likely that I was conceived to a Judas Priest record”.

Clark and McClanahan, the group’s primary songwriters, obviously don’t take themselves too seriously and exchange banter like only two old friends could. They are full of hilarious one-liners and stories that never seem to dry up. The two met in 2002 through a mutual friend and began to hone their playing and songwriting skills by performing in various bands together until McClanahan moved back to Shreveport, Louisiana in late 2005 after finishing school at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. So, in early 2006, Clark decided to record one of the tunes they had written together along with a few that he had composed himself. “I called up my friend/producer, Ivan Klisanin and asked him if he wanted to do it and ended up talking about ideas for hours” says Clark. “I didn’t have a band or even a name idea at that point, but I made my way over to Ivan’s studio a few weeks later all by my lonesome with my trusty old 1972 Guild F50 acoustic and we recorded the rhythm tracks to Idle Hands, Pocket Full of Regrets and Through the Blue”.

Almost two years would pass, but fate would have its way during the summer of 2007. Clark and McClanahan went on a camping trip to Tennessee after talking a few months earlier for the first time since he left to move to Shreveport. “I hadn’t seen Mark in quite some time and on our way up, he let me listen to the songs he had been working on and I couldn’t believe how talented he had become as a songwriter/lyricist in such a short time” says McClanahan. “The songs had so much depth to them and they just blew me away, I knew I wanted to be a part of it right away”. A few months later, he moved back to Lafayette, Louisiana (the band’s home base) and Greenlight Caravan was born. From there, the quintet has been rounded off with a rhythm section as diverse as Lafayette itself with Mark Anthony “Tony” Guilbeau on drums, Joshua Patrick on bass and Matt Shumaker on percussion.

Those are the humble beginnings of what would become Greenlight Caravan’s debut CD, Mother Earth Revival. It has since landed a spot on Dege Legg’s coveted “Top 10 albums of 2009” list in The Independent and has earned them much critical praise. Sheri McKee from Where Y’At Magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana says you better “get ready for a revolutionary musical journey as Greenlight Caravan takes the listener on an unforgettable trip, blending funk and soulful Southern guitar rock infused with earthy licks into a psychedelic world of groove-filled jams”. “This band is driven and it can easily be heard from the start on the title track, Mother Earth Revival, as they grab the listener and willingly hijack them on the journey together” says McKee. “Best advice--simply sit back, enjoy the magical musical ride and leave the rest to the Greenlight Caravan”.

The name, Greenlight Caravan, was derived from a painting that Clark once saw in an art gallery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “The painting was of a vintage motorcycle with ‘Life needs more green lights’ written across the top” he says. Once I saw Green light, I almost immediately thought of the word Caravan, probably because I was listening to Van Morrison’s Moondance quite a bit around the time (it has a song called Caravan on it). According to Clark, the name has connotations of moving forward, positivity, environmental references and most importantly, the color green (he has an almost humorous infatuation with the color itself). He jokingly says “take a look around, green must be GOD’s favorite color too pal”!

GLC, as the locals call them, are known to incorporate lots of crowd involvement in their performances, they even provide various percussion instruments for everyone to shake beat or just dance around with. Drummer, Tony Guilbeau says “It’s one thing to have a great recording that we’re proud of, but we really enjoy playing live and putting on a great show”. “I love playing in this band, we have such a good chemistry and we want everyone at our concerts to have an even better time than we do and go home as completely exhausted as we do too”, he says with a smile. While they are certainly no strangers to “good times” music, they also add atmosphere and dimension to ballads and more folk-oriented songs. Bassist, Joshua Patrick says “we try to have a good balance of fun, upbeat songs and ballads to keep things interesting”. Mother Earth Revival is chock full of raunchy guitars riffs, but has plenty of acoustic based material as well.

While performing, they all seem to be in their element, grinning from ear to ear. With a nod, a wink and a few gestures, they appear to be able to converse with each other on stage in what seems to be their own form of non-verbal communication. The lights are bright and pulsating, the aroma of incense fills the air and the magic of their hypnotic grooves unconsciously make all the good folks in the audience dance and sing like they’re in the comforts of their own shower! They rip and roar through funky musical gems like Room # 909, Paracletos’ Umbrella and Lay Down Low with genuine charisma; almost as if it’s the first time they’ve ever played it. Their music is energetic, mostly upbeat and emotionally charged! Clark’s hooky lyrics only add fuel to the positive vibe and are squarely balanced between spiritual-meets-environmental awakenings and slyly humorous. Rock-n-roll is the centerpiece on their musical mantle, but it is surrounded by subtleties of funk, soul, folksy-southern rock and a hint of psychedelia. Chip Withrow from www.musesmuse.com says “one of the highest compliments that I will pay an act is that I really want to see and hear them perform”. “Every song on Mother Earth Revival is a winner and I would love to watch and listen to Greenlight Caravan bring them to life on stage” he adds.

They are currently back in the studio with Klisanin, working on their sophomore effort that is tentatively called Innermission. McClanahan says “we’ve been working really hard on the new material and we’ve laid down some pretty massive grooves”. “The sound is unmistakably that of Greenlight Caravan, but we’ve been able to develop our style even further this time around” he adds. Clark agrees and says “I really think we’ve grown and matured as a band even more and it really shows in the new tunes”. We’ve really put our heart and soul into this recording and are very proud of the songs we have so far, they have a lot of personality”. Innermission is scheduled to be released by April 2012.