Special Consensus "Signs" (Pinecastle)

Let’s be fair — and honest here.

I really enjoy Special Consensus, the band. I firmly believe the band’s moniker doesn’t lie. It, indeed, is special. Special in song selection and special in delivery. And, I should tell you before I ramble into my somewhat skewed critique, I’m also acquainted with members of this band. They’ve broken bread at my table and we’ve sipped some nectar of the gods together.

Now that I feel somewhat on a level playing field with you, our valued readers of BluegrassJournal.com, allow me to also tell you this: Signs, the band’s new CD, is a darn good collection of music. Just released last week as part of the Pinecastle label’s 20th anniversary celebration, Signs is equally balanced between original material and covers.

The Pinecastle publicist who issued pre-release promotional material for Signs wrote that the CD “marked a new era” for Special Consensus, which has been around for better than three decades. “The band’s sound has evolved with the addition of new members that is a culmination of the constant push and pull between traditional and more progressive grass.”

I’m unsure if the publicist was quietly saying: “Hey listen to this! It’s the new, improved Special C!” If so, to that I would reply: “So, what else is new?” To me, Special C is special because through the years, it has gone through many personnel changes that have brought great things to the group.

Digest this: There are 38 Special Consensus alumni out there in bluegrass land. Considering that founder, leader and Special C mainstay Greg Cahill has usually maintained the group as a quartet, that’s a sizeable turnover.

All the personnel comings and goings always have managed to add a freshness, a new spark, if you will, to the constant, uniquely branded sound Cahill manages to retain from CD to CD, from concert to concert. So, granted, Signs does mark “a new era,” but it’s hardly the band’s first new era.

The band’s current lineup has been with Cahill for close to two years. The rookie, mandolinist Ashby Frank, opens Signs with the title cut that he wrote. Track 2, “Gone to Carolina,” was co-written by guitarist Justin Carbone and Becky Buller.

Together, the two opening tracks are a strong signal of what Special Consensus has always been about: Great talent. Here are two young musicians who can deliver eye-popping picking and great vocals, but Frank and Carbone also demonstrate the ability to write good bluegrass material, especially for today’s market. Both songs, certainly, could fit the “newgrass” mold, but make no mistake, the songwriting here did not stray far from the genre’s roots.

In all, the band’s members contributed six of Sign’s 12 tracks. Pretty impressive.

Although bass player David Thomas has no songwriting credits on the CD, his contributions to the project are strong. Like any good bass player, Thomas lays down a rock-solid foundation on Signs. He also has one of those tenor harmony voices that could slice through a vein of bedrock. He steps up to take the lead on the Jake Landers’ tune, “Mountain Girl,” and his traditional handling of this tune is a real highlight of the CD.

I also confess to getting a broad smile the first time I heard “I’ll Go To My Grave Lovin’ You,” one of the Statler Brothers many classics, this one written by Don Reid. It’s fairly faithful to the Statlers’ original, albeit done up in true bluegrass fashion.

Cahill shows off his banjo prowess with “Snowball Breakdown,” an original instrument he co-wrote with mandolinist Frank. It’s a nice showcase to flex the band’s instrumental muscle.

The modern gospel tune, “Footprints,” is a real stand-out on Signs. Frank does the lead vocal and gets help on harmony from Sonya Isaacs.

Guest musicians, Randy Kohrs on Dobro and fiddler Tim Crouch, add an extra pinch of spice to what already is a rather tasty package of music.

Signs, placed alongside previous Special Consensus albums, is a reaffirmation that “a new era” has indeed arrived for Cahill’s merry band. Arrived, that is, once again.