 By Pete Mackie
It was a real Christmas treat for North West (and other!) Bluegrass fans at Dave Bresnen’s latest concert featuring visiting American bands. This time it was a return visit for The Special Consensus, complete with new guitar and bass players, who were also the lead vocalists. This resulted in a slightly different repertoire which seemed to favour more traditional Bluegrass than I remember from their visit last October. The Special Consensus is very much a vehicle for Greg Cahill, who formed it in 1975 after performing with several other Chicago-based bands. He plays excellent banjo within fairly traditional Bluegrass arrangements but also branches out with some truly spectacular picking in a more progressive style reminiscent of Don Reno. The other established member was the youthful-looking Colby Maddox on mandolin. He picked with great speed and clarity and both he and Greg were particularly impressive on a couple of occasions when they indulged in some very precise unison picking. Colby also provided the bass harmony on a couple of gospel songs and although his voice was not very powerful, it was effective and could possibly have been featured to advantage in the harmony on some of the other songs. The more influential of the two new members was guitarist and lead singer Bobby Burns. His voice perhaps lacked a little drive, but he did an excellent job in a true Bluegrass style. Bobby’s backup guitar was very solid with a lot of attack and when his turn came to take a break he produced some pretty nifty picking, mainly lower down the neck. He’s also a luthier (a useful man to have on tour!) and for some years he worked for the Collings Guitar Company.
Diana Phillips, the other new member, is an excellent bass player - absolutely rock solid and without too many unnecessary frills. Just the sort of bass player I like. She provided simple basic backing when required, but moved on to a really lively walking bass on the western swing and boogie numbers. Diana also provided the other lead vocals. I was not too keen on her voice which I thought lacked some expression and I often felt that her diction could have been clearer. But another Bluegrass player said later “She’s a fantastic singer - the star of the band!” This just highlights how these things are a matter of taste - there are no absolute rights and wrongs. Incidentally, Diana must be one of the few Bluegrass bass players who is also an accomplished classical pianist. So on to the concert itself. It opened with a fast, brief banjo tune before going on to Green Rolling Hills, the title song from the last CD the band made before Bobby and Diana joined. The first set included a wide variety of material, closing with a real driving Bluegrass number Little Girl of Mine In Tennessee. In between we were treated to old fashioned Bluegrass songs such as Lost John, modern songs like Penny For Your Thoughts (written by a friend of the band) and Sweet Life, which was both sung and written by Diana. There were mandolin tunes written by Colby and an arrangement of Blue Skies which gave Greg free rein to demonstrate his skills in a less rigid structure than the traditional Bluegrass tune number. The four part gospel song Sit Down showed how comfortable all the band were with complex harmonies and introduced Colby’s gentle but accurate bass voice. There was country from the O.Kanes and tunes from Bob Wills, which to my ear sounded more old timey than western swing. But for me the two highlights of the first half were the Osborne Brothers song Listen to the Rain and Ralph Stanley’s If I Lose. After the usual CD and cassettes sales in the interval, during which they were very pleased to ‘meet with’ their audience, the second half continued with the same high level of performance and excitement. There was more variety with Ten Mile Tennessee, a slow romantic ballad of nostalgia for the old home town; the rocking Delmore Brothers song Freight Train Boogie and many other Bluegrass standards and sparkling instrumentals. There was even a Bluegrass treatment of a Who song, which the band had heard the day before on the Muzak in the local Burger King. This provided a running joke for much of the second half. Colby showed his versatility with some old-time-influenced fiddling on Forked Deer. Bobby sang Walls of Time as a nice tribute to the late Bill Monroe and also to The Seldom Scene’s John Duffey, who had died tragically only the previous night. They then wound up the evening with more gospel songs and instrumentals, ending with a tribute to “The best singer-songwriter of them all” Lester Flatt, with his song You Will Never Know The Pain. They provided an excellent nights entertainment and I would recommend their latest CD to anyone. Pete Mackie, Formby
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