The Greenhornes started life as a high school band based in
Dearborn County, Indiana, (20 miles west of Cincinnati) called Us and Them, self-releasing a four-track tape. Originally a five-piece that included guitarist Brian Olive (who later departed to play with the
Toledo-based
Soledad Brothers under the alias Oliver Henry) and keyboardist Jared McKinney, The Greenhornes debuted in 1998, issuing their first bit of music on a single, "The End of the Night" backed with "No More," released by
Deary Me Records. The following year they released their first full-length album,
Gun For You. A self-titled LP followed in 2001. 2002's
Dual Mono came after the departure of Olive and McKinney and included guitarist and vocalist Eric Stein, currently guitarist and vocalist of The Griefs. By 2003, the band was down to Fox, Lawrence, and Keeler. 2005 saw the release of
East Grand Blues, an EP for
V2 Records, which was produced by
Detroit musician
Brendan Benson. It was quickly followed by the compilation
Sewed Soles. The band's collaboration with
Holly Golightly, "There Is an End", was the theme song of
Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film,
Broken Flowers. Throughout their career, the Greenhornes have toured almost constantly, only taking breaks when the musicians have worked on other projects. Lawrence and Keeler, along with Detroit musician and producer
Dave Feeny, were in the Do-Whaters, the band formed and led by
Jack White of
The White Stripes for
Loretta Lynn's 2004 album
Van Lear Rose. Lawrence and Keeler spent all of 2006 at work in
The Raconteurs with Benson and White. Lawrence is also the banjo and autoharp player for the Detroit band
Blanche, which also includes Feeny, and plays bass in
The Dead Weather, a band that includes
Alison Mosshart (
The Kills), Jack White and
Dean Fertita (
The Waxwings). Recently, Fox, McKinney, and Olive have been playing together in a new, still-untitled band in and around Cincinnati. The song "Can't Stand It" was featured in the episode Pie-O-My during season 4 of
The Sopranos. The Greenhornes have also contributed the song "Pattern Skies" to the
PS2/
Xbox video game
Destroy All Humans! 2. The group are confirmed to play the
ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 at the request of film director
Jim Jarmusch.
Four Stars, the band's fourth studio album was released on November 9, 2010. It had the song "Saying Goodbye" on the soundtrack for the 2011 movie "The Green Hornet" A seven-song 12" record of demos and outtakes from the recording of the
East Grand Blues EP was released as a part of the vault package no. 6 from
Third Man Records. This album is not available for purchase in stores, and only a limited number of pressings were made. ==Members==