THE SPECIAL CONSENSUS is a four person acoustic bluegrass band that began touring 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 all of the band recordings since 1998 have appeared on the National Bluegrass Survey chart in Bluegrass Unlimited and on the charts in Bluegrass Now. A video production of the TAM Program, sponsored by the Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association, has been sent by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) to hundreds of schools around the world. 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 25^th Anniversary recording to mark this milestone year for the band. Several band recordings have 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  and the 2007 release Trail of Aching Hearts and the 2009 release Signs climbed both the top songs and the top album charts in Bluegrass Unlimited and Bluegrass Music Profiles.  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 rosters of the Illinois Arts Council (Artstour) and the Heartland Arts Fund 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 "Dusk 'Til Dawn" and "Margarita Breakdown"). The repertoire also includes traditional bluegrass standards (songs by Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, 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.

Rick Faris plays mandolin and sings lead, baritone, tenor and high baritone vocals.

Rick is actually known in the world of bluegrass music as an award-winning guitar player. Born in Iowa, raised in Arkansas and Missouri, Rick and his family moved to Kansas in 1991 and he started playing with the Faris Family Bluegrass Band in 1998. Although guitar was his first instrument (he began playing when he was 7 years old), Rick also plays dobro, banjo and mandolin.

The Faris Family band toured extensively throughout the USA and Canada and was awarded Traditional Bluegrass Group of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Entertaining Group of the Year several times by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA). Rick was awarded the SPBGMA Midwest Guitar Performer of the Year in 2005 and 2008. He was one of the first teachers at the Americana Music Academy in Lawrence, Kansas (where he remained a teacher of guitar and dobro for five years). When not on the road, Rick spends his “spare time” as an excellent luthier, building guitars (there is a year waiting list for his guitars), dobros and mandolins.

Rick joined The Special C in 2009.

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 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.

Ryan Roberts plays guitar and sings lead, baritone, bass and tenor vocals. 

Ryan is an award-winning songwriter, born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. His songs have been recorded in the styles of bluegrass, country, jazz, and R&B. He has composed instrumental scores for film as well as jingles for commercial radio.

At the Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Awards, Ryan was awarded Songwriter of the Year five consecutive years (2005 through 2009) and his solo recording was awarded Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2009.

Ryan joined The Special C in the fall of 2009.