Special Consensus will perform a special hometown release concert celebrating their new Pinecastle Records CD, Signs, at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn, Ill, a Chicago suburb, on May 30. The band will perform from 7 to 9 p.m.

Advance ticket sales are available through www.ticketweb.com.

Pinecastle Records is offering a free download of…

Davey Johnson, well known in bluegrass circles in central Illinois and central Florida, died today (Thursday, April 2) in Florida, where he spent the winter months with his wife Dorothy.

Johnson, retired from Caterpillar, Inc., in Peoria, spent a bulk of his retirement years pursuing one of his favorite, lifelong passions: Bluegrass music.

Johnson performed for several years with Bluegrass Purrferred, the Stone County Ramblers and several other Illinois groups….

Kirkland Fine Arts Center on the campus of Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., is gearing up for a Bluegrass Weekend this Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4.

Chicago-based band Special Consensus, which last week just released a new CD, Signs, on the Pinecastle label, will appear in concert both Friday and Saturday evening. The Gordons, a Southern Illinois duo, will also perform Friday. On Saturday, Special Consensus has the warm-up honors for Asleep at the Wheel, which is known for its Western Swing, not bluegrass.

By Dennis Keeling

Special to BluegrassJournal.com

A lucky group of bluegrass fans got a preview of new material when the band Special Consensus gave a concert Sunday, Jan. 4, at the Maple Street Chapel in Lombard, a city near Chicago in northern Illinois….

Mando Magnificat, billed as “a celebration of the enduring and brilliant versatility of the mandolin,” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. March 7 at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, Illinois.

The show will feature two performers who are no strangers to bluegrass — Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, as well as Germany’s Caterina Lichtenberg, Don Stiernberg of Chicago, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, and Mirko Schrader on guitar.