Special Consensus - Chicago Barn Dance (2020)

On the heels of their IBMA Album of the Year winner 'Rivers and Roads', Special Consensus celebrates their 45th anniversary with the release of 'Chicago Barn Dance'. The new project is a love note of sorts to Chicago, hometown of the bands founder and banjo player Greg Cahill.

The albums title track, written by Becky Buller, Missy Raines and the albums producer Alison Brown, tells the story of WLS Barn Dance and features the exquisite twin fiddling of Grammy winning fiddler Michael Cleveland alongside Becky Buller. Former band member Robbie Fulks wrote East Chicago Blues especially for the project and contributes lead vocals. The song tells Bill Monroes personal journey of trading a farmers life in Kentucky for the oil refineries in Chicago. My Kind of Town is a re imagining of the Sinatra classic into a bluegrass instrumental featuring the twin banjos of Greg Cahill and Alison Brown alongside the twin fiddles of Mike Barnett and Patrick McAvinue. Guitarist and lead vocalist Rick Faris shines on Lake Shore Drive and Looking out my Back Door, features a Dobro performance from Compass label mate Rob Ickes. 'Chicago Barn Dance' not only establishes Special Consensus as one of Chicagos most prized music treasures but also draws the connection between the Chicago and the evolution of early country and bluegrass music. Artists that regularly appeared on Chicagos WLS National Barn Dance from the 1920s through the 1940s, including Hank Williams, Bill and Charlie Monroe, Pasty Montana and Lulu Belle and Scotty, provided a sense of connection and comfort to the many Southerners who migrated from the Appalachian states in search of work, including the father of bluegrass music Bill Monroe. And 45 years into their journey, Special Consensus continues to epitomize nexus between the Windy City and bluegrass music.