Bluegrass shines at Schaumburg music fest

Greg Cahill thinks for a second about why bluegrass music has endured well into the tech-obsessed 21st century.

“It's a participatory sport, in many ways,” said Cahill, the driving force behind Chicago bluegrass favorites The Special Consensus. “It's a form of storytelling that involves the audience. And the singing is always beautiful. You can't beat those harmonies.”

There will be plenty of harmonies and down-home storytelling to enjoy at the 17th annual Great Northern Bluegrass Music Festival, which will take place this weekend at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield hotel in Schaumburg.

The Special Consensus will be one of about a dozen bands performing during the festival. Other bands on the bill include Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Monroe Crossing, the Morgan Daniels Band and the Punches Family.

“I like the mix of sounds we have this year,” said Terry Lease, organizer of the festival. “We have modern bluegrass represented, traditional styles, family groups that show the youth of the movement. It'll be a great event for fans of this wonderful kind of music.”

Cahill, an Oak Lawn resident, founded The Special Consensus in 1975. A relentless touring schedule won the band fans all over the country during the ensuing decades, despite repeated personnel changes.

In 2010, The Special Consensus released its 10th record, titled “35,” a reference to the band's 35th anniversary. The record contains six new songs and six older pieces collected from previous, out-of-print releases.

The record delivers the traditional bluegrass music The Special Consensus is known for — warm, driving songs propelled by upright bass, mandolin and Cahill's energetic banjo picking. And of course, those great vocal harmonies.

Cahill said his enthusiasm for making music hasn't cooled even after all these years.

“I still love it,” he said. “I love to sit around and jam with other musicians. I still wake up thinking about new songs. And I still love getting onstage and playing with an audience.”

The bluegrass bug first bit Cahill in the late 1960s. Like many young music fans of the era, he already had gotten caught up in the folk-music revival happening around the country.

“Folk was huge back then, and I was in college in Minnesota, where there was a vibrant scene happening,” he said.

But then he heard a record by pioneering banjo player Earl Scruggs, and Cahill became obsessed. By 1970 he was back in Chicago and attending every bluegrass festival and concert he could.

“I just had to learn how to play that stuff myself,” he said.

Cahill is the only Special Consensus member who lives in the Chicago area. The others hail from Kansas and Tennessee. But the group still manages to come together for between 120 and 150 tour dates a year.

The band is particularly excited about playing at the Great Northern Bluegrass festival this weekend, Cahill said.

“It's a great event, and the fans always come out for it,” he said. “You won't find more avid fans than those who love bluegrass.”

In addition to all the live music, the festival will include a guitar trade show, instrument workshops for adults and children, and a “Jam Camp” that will teach jamming etiquette and fundamentals.

Cahill, who has taught bluegrass at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, said he feels good about the state of the form in 2011.

“Bluegrass has this special drive to it that will keep it going a long, long time,” he said. “There was a time when people were worried about it, but I think it's as strong as ever. I see multiple generations coming to our shows, adults and their kids. Bluegrass is doing great.”