Chicago-based bluegrass outfit Special Consensus have achieved a contemporary sound in over four decades of performing, making their music a modern classic. Band members include leader Greg Cahill (banjo), Dan Eubanks (bass), Greg Blake (guitar) and Brian McCarty (mandolin). Two-time GRAMMY nominees and six-time IBMA winners, the group has amassed an expansive discography of over 20 releases including 2020’s CHICAGO BARN DANCE which highlighted the important role the Windy City played in the early development of bluegrass music.
With their latest release GREAT BLUE NORTH, Special Consensus turns their gaze northward, across the great lakes, to Canada. The album offers a thoughtfully curated collection of well-known and obscure songs from Canadian writers and features collaborations with some Canada’s most notable bluegrass and folk musicians. Band leader Greg Cahill comments: “Special Consensus has toured regularly in Canada since our earliest days and counts many great Canadian bluegrass players and singers among our musical friends. After we released ‘Blackbird’, penned by Cape Breton-based J.P. Cormier, as a single last year we began to think that recording an album of all Canadian songs would be a great way to tip our hats to the immense talent in the Canadian bluegrass community. Getting to collaborate with some of our northern friends on the project was the icing on the cake.”
Taken as a whole, GREAT BLUE NORTH expands Special Consensus’s musical footprint, furthering their legacy as Chicago’s premiere bluegrass ambassadors and establishing them as torchbearers for the international reach of bluegrass music. Cahill adds: “We hope the international bluegrass community will enjoy the new music and join us in celebrating the fact that bluegrass music truly has no borders!”
GREAT BLUE NORTH is the 21st Special Consensus recording. The Gordon Lightfoot song from the album “Alberta Bound” received the 2023 IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year Award and the accompanying video won the IBMA Music Video Of The Year Award in September 2024. Vocalist Greg Blake was the winner of the IBMA Male Vocalist Of The Year Award in 2023.
Special Consensus have been coming to Ireland biennially since the mid ‘90’s and have established an extensive legion of fans over the years.
