Special Consensus at Laural Highlands

Special consensus will be appearing at the Laurel Highlands Bluegrass Festival, Saturday June 20.

Band bio follows:

THE SPECIAL CONSENSUS is a four person acoustic bluegrass band that began performing in the Midwest in the spring of 1975. The first band album was released in 1979 when the band began touring on a national basis. In 1984, The Special Consensus initiated the Traditional American Music (TAM) Program in schools across the country and began appearing on cable television and National Public Radio shows. The band has since appeared on The Nashville Network “Fire On The Mountain” show, toured for three seasons as 4/5 of the cast in the musical Cotton Patch Gospel (music and lyrics by Harry Chapin), and released thirteen additional recordings. Songs from most recent Special C recordings (Our Little Town, Route 10, Everything’s Alright and Trail of Aching Hearts) have appeared on the National Bluegrass Survey chart in Bluegrass Unlimited and on the Gospel Truths chart in Bluegrass Now. A video production of the TAM Program, sponsored by the Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association, has been archived at the Nashville office of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and sent by the IBMA to hundreds of schools throughout the United States. In 2000, Pinecastle Records released the first band performance video, filmed for Iowa Public Television’s “Old Time Country Music” show, and The Special Consensus 25th Anniversary recording to mark this milestone year for the band. The 25th Anniversary and Route 10 recordings each received a Highlight Review in Bluegrass Unlimited, and Route 10 was included in the Top 10 Recordings of 2003 in both Bluegrass Now and the Chicago Tribune. In November 2003, The Special Consensus received a standing ovation after the first band performance on the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. The 2005 Everything’s Alright release was included in the Top 10 Recordings of 2005 in Bluegrass Now and Greg was featured in the September 2006 cover story of that periodical. The band was featured in the August 2005 cover story of Bluegrass Unlimited. International tours have brought The Special Consensus to the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, Ireland and South America. In 1993, the band performed the first of many concerts with a symphony orchestra, complete with orchestral arrangements of songs from the band repertoire. The Special Consensus is included on the touring roster of the Illinois Arts Council (Artstour) and continues to participate in the Arts Midwest Performing Arts Touring Program.
THE SPECIAL CONSENSUS repertoire features original compositions by band members and professional songwriters (such as “Ten Mile Tennessee” and “Margarita Breakdown”). The repertoire also includes traditional bluegrass standards (songs by Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, etc.) and songs by artists from other musical genres (such as “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin). As a result of this musical diversity, The Special Consensus has performed at the most traditional bluegrass festivals and has also been the band to bridge the gap between traditional and progressive bands at more diverse festivals and fairs.

Ashby Frank
Ashby Frank plays mandolin and sings lead, baritone and tenor vocals.
Ashby was raised in the Winston-Salem region of North Carolina and began playing the acoustic guitar at the age of 9. By the age of 12 he also began playing the mandolin and he won the mandolin contest at the long-standing Galax, Virginia music festival several years later. At the age of 16, Ashby was one of the youngest musicians ever to win the mandolin contests at both the Galax festival and the prestigious Merlefest in North Carolina in the same year. He was a member of the award winning North Carolina-based band Southern Drive until relocating to Nashville at the age of 18.
Since moving to Nashville, Ashby has appeared on many recordings of various bluegrass artists and has played with many of the most prominent nationally recognized bluegrass bands, including those of Ronnie Bowman, Jeanette Williams, Lou Reid, Gina Britt, Marty Raybon, Alecia Nugent and Bradley Walker. He performs regularly in Nashville with the Mashville Brigade and was featured on that band recording as well as on his own solo recording.
Ashby joined The Special Consensus in 2007 and appeared on the 2009 band release Signs; he also composed that title song.

David Thomas
David Thomas plays bass and sings lead, baritone, tenor and high baritone vocals.
David was born and raised in Limestone County and still resides near Elkmont , Alabama . His interest in music was sparked by listening to the country band of his uncle and great uncles in the 1980s. David began playing the guitar at the age of twelve and his grandfather, an avid fan of bluegrass music, began taking him to bluegrass music concerts when he was in his early teens. He began playing the mandolin at the age of seventeen and bass at nineteen.
David played guitar, mandolin and bass in regional Alabama-based bands throughout his teenage years and he co-founded a bluegrass band (playing mandolin) called Roanoke in 2003. Roanoke competed in bluegrass band contests throughout the southern states, winning several in Alabama and Tennessee , until David joined The Special Consensus in 2006. He appeared on the 2007 band recording Trail of Aching Hearts and the 2009 release Signs.

Greg Cahill
Greg plays banjo and sings baritone and tenor vocals.
Chicago born and bred, Greg has been playing bluegrass banjo since the early 1970s and formed The Special Consensus in 1975. He has composed many banjo instrumentals and released three albums featuring his unique style: Lone Star (1980) with guests Jethro Burns and Byron Berline, Blue Skies (1992) with fellow Chicagoan Don Stiernberg, and Night Skies (1998) with Don and guests Sam Bush, Glen Duncan and Tom Boyd. He has appeared on all of The Special Consensus recordings, on numerous recordings by other artists, and on many national television and radio commercials as the banjo player of choice on Chicago's busy jingle music scene. Greg has also recorded with the ChowDogs (Slavek Hanzlik, Dallas Wayne, and Ollie O'Shea) and periodically tours European countries with that band.
In addition to conducting workshops at festivals, teaching at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and teaching banjo at music camps, Greg has released four instructional videos/DVDs. He served as Vice Chairperson of the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Board of Directors for several years and was elected President/Board Chair of that organization in 2006.

Justin Carbone
Justin Carbone plays guitar and sings lead, baritone, bass and tenor vocals.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Justin attended his first bluegrass festival (Wind Gap) at the age of 10 and was given a banjo on his 12th birthday. Soon he was learning to play both the banjo and guitar, and he formed a band called Kickin’ Grass with several friends. By 1998, that band had evolved into the Pennsylvania-based bluegrass band, 2nd Edition, which won the SPBGMA band contest in Nashville in 2001. Justin continued to play with 2nd Edition until he relocated to Nashville in 2004 and joined The Special Consensus. He released his first solo recording, Take Some Time, on the Pinecastle Records label in 2005 with special guests Alan Bartram, Mike Brubaker, Greg Cahill, Ashby Frank, Jeremy Garrett, Randy Kohrs, Steve Thomas and Josh Williams.
Justin has appeared on the three most recent recordings of The Special Consensus (Everything's Alright, Trail of Aching Hearts and Signs) and initiated a demo production company in Nashville in 2008. He has also begun producing recordings of other bands.