Working again with producer Alison Brown, Special Consensus builds on their legacy of blending classic sounds with contemporary influences. Bluegrass standards including “I’ve Been All Around This World”and Tony Rice’s “Like a Train” sit alongside re-workings of The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” and Roger Miller’s “King of the Road.” All but two of the album’s tracks are collaborations between the current and former band members and the spirit of musical camaraderie that informed the recording sessions shines through the music.
Today, No Depression premiered the most heartfelt track on the album, the John Hartford-penned “I Wish We Had Our Time Again.” All of the special guests join in with current band members Greg Cahill (banjo), Brian McCarty (mandolin), Greg Blake (guitar) and Dan Eubanks (bass) and the track is infused with a casual jam session vibe, everyone trading vocal lines and swapping fiddle tunes during the instrumental sections. The friendship between all the musicians is palpable and bandleader Greg says the session filled him with gratitude. “I feel so very fortunate to have had so many talented, fantastic musicians and great people pass through the band and remain friends forever. I am so lucky to have been able to follow my ‘path with heart’ for the past 50 years!”
Been All Around This Work is chock full of stellar collaborations. The album kicks off with “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round,” a song made popular by the Monkees, featuring Chris Jones on lead vocals and a climactic final chorus that includes harmonies from Rick Faris and Dallas Wayne. Faris’s high tenor vocals are featured on the album’s second single “Please Mr. Postman” and Dallas Wayne delivers a stunning version of “Always on a Mountain” made popular by Merle Haggard in the late 1970s. Greg Cahill and Alison Brown continue their tradition of including a twin banjo tune on every Special Consensus album, this time with a tasty take on the classic Louis Armstrong song “Red, Red Robin.”
The album’s title track, “I’ve Been All Around This World,” winds through three modulations, each section featuring a different lead singer starting with Josh Williams on the first verse, Greg Blake with Ashby Frank on the second verse and ending with Robbie Fulks.
Over the course of their 50-year career, Chicago-based Special Consensus has toured across the globe, playing in every state in the continental US as well as in over a dozen countries on multiple continents. The band’s founder and banjoist Greg Cahill has built a legendary farm team for a long list of bluegrass musicians who started their careers as members of the band. Special Consensus has released over two dozen albums, received two Grammy nominations and eight IBMA Awards. They hold the distinction of being the longest continuously touring and recording band in bluegrass music still performing today.
