Graylit

By Kathie Colgrove
NCR Reporter

Friday, September 11, 2009 4:27 PM EDT

David Leon Card plays to his own beat in Nashville, alongside fellow Graylit band members Jefferson Yount, Michael Williamson and Christopher Yount. The band released its first CD in April. The music can be heard at www.myspace.com/graylit or www.graylit.com.

David Leon Card is one of the few who gets to follow his muse as a drummer in an alternative music band.

Card, 26, a former Callahan resident, plays drums for Graylit, a Nashville-based band that got its start when the guys attended Southeastern University in Lakeland several years ago. Card attended the university on a music scholarship.

During the band's early days, brothers Jefferson Yount, and Christopher Yount, and band mates Michael Williamson and Card, performed on campus and played local venues in and around Lakeland.

After college, the band members began to seriously pursue music in 2005, adopting a new name, which, like their music, was on the fringe.

Card joined his friends in Nashville in 2006.

"Gray literature is written materials not easily found through mainstream channels," Card said via his cell phone Sept. 3, while in Brentwood, Tenn., a Nashville suburb. "And for our purposes as a band, it represents our desire to maintain our musical integrity and not be subject to the mainstream. But not that we want to avoid the mainstream; we simply cannot make the mainstream our focus."

Card appreciates the collaborative efforts of his band mates and the tight-knit relationship they have.

"Our greatest strength is in our unity as a band and not in each member's individual talent," Card said. "Each song can be tied to a particular real-life story out of our own experience."

Playing drums in the band has continued to fuel Card's love of music, which began when he was 6-years-old. His mother, Dee Dee Card, always believed that he and his brother, Allen, had talent and supported them both in their musical endeavors. She recalled Card's early passion for percussion.

"His first drum set was a Sears drum set. He always loved the drums," she said. "He always wanted to go out and change the world."

At age 9, Card began playing drums at the Yulee Church of God, where the family attended. His dad, David Card, already played keyboards, bass and acoustic guitar. His brother Allen also plays bass guitar and continues to play at Crossroads Family Worship Center.

Dee Dee supports the family by clapping her hands in time with the beat.

"I don't sing. I'm the cheering section," she said.

For three of his high school years, Card marched on the drum line as a member of the West Nassau Warrior Band.

"I kind of had a fascination of sounds coming out of that area, but it's music as whole that I'm fascinated with," he said of drums.

When David made the decision to hit Nashville's competitive music scene, his parents supported that, too.

"We didn't discourage it, but we were cautious," David Card said. "We try to stay neutral and let him make his own decisions. I don't want him to look back and say I wish I had (taken the opportunity)."

An avid humanitarian, Card's interests include addressing social causes and public speaking.

Though his musical influences run the gambit of varying tastes from Bob Dylan, Counting Crows and the Deftones, for Card, now a seasoned professional, it all comes back to the drums.

"I appreciate any drummer that fits in with the music and complements the sound," he said.

The risky move to Music City has paid off with the band's release of its first album in April, "The World's Out Late." The album title shares its name with one of the tracks on the CD.

"The song is all about hope. To me personally, the album is all about hope," Card said.

Since the album's release, the band has continued to perform music on its own terms. Card said the band is close to choosing a management partner to take the group to the next step in their musical careers.

"The band itself is just one of each member's goals. Our goal as a band is to make a living playing music," Card said. "Everybody wants to make it big and that's wonderful. Our goal as a band is to play music full time. Whether or not we become chart toppers is not a major issue."

For more information about Card's band, visit http://www.myspace.com/graylit or www.graylit.com.

kcolgrove@nassaucountyrecord.com

Link to original article:
http://www.nassaucountyrecord.com/articles/2009/09/11/news/news01.txt - Nassau County Record