Chicago born and bred, Greg Cahill has been playing bluegrass banjo since the early 1970s. He co-founded The Special Consensus in Chicago in 1975 and has continued to tour nationally and internationally with the band ever since. In 1984, he created the Traditional American Music (TAM) Program to introduce students of all ages to bluegrass music. He has appeared on all 22 of The Special Consensus recordings, on numerous recordings by other artists and on many national television and radio commercial jingles. Greg has also released three recordings: Lone Star (1980, with guests Jethro Burns and Byron Berline); Blue Skies (1992, with Chicago mandolinist Don Stiernberg); and Night Skies (1998, with Don Stiernberg and guests Sam Bush, Glen Duncan and Tom Boyd). He has also recorded and toured European countries with the ChowDogs (Greg and Slavek Hanzlik, Dallas Wayne and Ollie O’Shea). Greg has released four banjo instructional DVDs and three banjo tablature books and he teaches banjo at festival workshops and music camps nationally and internationally. He is a banjo instructor at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and has been an adjunct faculty member of the music department (teaching banjo) at Columbia College in Chicago. He served on the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Board of Directors from 1998-2010 (Board Chair/President 2006-2010), became a Kentucky Colonel in 2010 and was awarded the prestigious IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011. Greg was also appointed to the Board of Directors of the Nashville-based Foundation for Bluegrass Music in 2007, elected President of the organization in 2011 and rotated off that board in 2012. The 2012 Compass Records band recording Scratch Gravel Road was GRAMMY-nominated for Best Bluegrass Album; the 2014 Compass Records band release Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute To John Denver received two IBMA awards; the 2016 Compass Records band recording Long I Ride received an IBMA award and the 2018 Compass Records recording Rivers And Roads received two IBMA awards (one for Album of the Year) and a GRAMMY nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. Greg served on the Recording Academy Chicago Chapter Board of Directors 2018-2020 and he was inducted into the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) Hall of Greats in Nashville, TN in 2020. Greg appears on the 2020 Special C Compass Records release Chicago Barn Dance, the 20th band recording that received the 2020 IBMA Song of the Year award. He also appears on the 2023 Compass Records release Great Blue North, the 21st Special C recording that features guest appearances by many Canadian musician friends of the band. The Gordon Lightfoot song “Alberta Bound” received the 2023 IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year award and the video received the first-ever 2024 IBMA Video of the Year award (tied with Authentic Unlimited). Finally, Greg appears on the 2025 Compass Records 50th Anniversary release Been All Around This World with current and former band members in celebration of 50 years of Special C music!

Greg Blake, the 2023 and 2025 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia but spent most of his life living and working in both Kansas City, MO, and Kansas City, KS. After graduating from high school in West Virginia, Greg attended bible college in Overland Park, Kansas where he met his wife. They both pursued further education, careers, and raised a family for 25 years in Kansas before moving to Colorado in 2007. While in Kansas, he was a member of the Bluegrass Missourians for nearly 15 years. During that time, the band received multiple awards from the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA), and he received two nominations for SPBGMA’s Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year and nine nominations for SPBGMA Guitarist of the Year. By the time Greg moved back to Kansas City, KS in 2017, he had received five consecutive SPBGMA Guitarist of the Year awards, a Kansas State Flatpicking championship and a nomination for the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Male Vocalist of the Year award. A highlight in 2015 was a debut solo album that was named by several sources among the Top Ten albums of the year. Greg has also toured with the Greg Blake Band and, most recently, with Jeff Scroggins and Colorado. In March, 2021 Greg officially became the Special Consensus guitar player and also released a solo recording titled People, Places and Songs on the Nashville-based Turnberry Records label. Greg also appears on the 2023 Compass Records release Great Blue North, the 21st Special C recording that features guest appearances by many Canadian musician friends of the band. The Gordon Lightfoot song “Alberta Bound” received the 2023 IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year award and Greg received the prestigious IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year award. The “Alberta Bound” video received the first-ever 2024 IBMA Video of the Year award (tied with Authentic Unlimited). Greg appears on the 2025 Compass Records release Been All Around This World with current and former band members in celebration of 50 years of Special C music!

Brian McCarty grew up in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The son of a prolific gospel songwriter and singer, he was immersed in the world of music from birth. He first performed with his mother's gospel band at the age of 7 and soon began competing as a vocalist in regional gospel music conventions. His love of traditional American music began when a family member handed him a mandolin at age 13. Brian soon added banjo and guitar to his instrumental prowess and won the 2005 International Bluegrass Artist of the Year award in the Branson-based CGMA. He has played with numerous bands in the Kansas City area over the past two decades, including 15 years as mandolinist for the Bluegrass Missourians. Brian appeared on four recordings with that band and on “The View from Home,” a recording with Greg Blake and Hometown in 2022. For the last two years he has been mandolinist for The Matchsellers, a Kansas City-based band with whom he appeared on two recordings in 2022 and 2024. Brian currently offers mandolin lessons in the Kansas City area and occasionally performs old “brother duets” with banjo player Todd Davis, billed as Davis and McCarty. He resides in Kansas City with his wife Mandy and their two daughters and he joined Special C in 2024. Brian appears on the 2025 Compass Records release Been All Around This World with current and former band members in celebration of 50 years of Special C music!

Currently living in Brooklyn, NY, Nico has made his presence known in and around the Bluegrass scene for the last decade. He has had the honor of offering his groove and presence as a bassist and vocalist to groups like Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, the Greg Blake Band, and Jesse Brock & Streamliner. Along with his musical talents, Nico spends his time working as an illustrator and photographer, creating merch, album cover art, and posters for Bluegrass Festivals and bands around the world. Nico spent his formative years living in Alberta, Canada, where he often returns to visit family, sure to play Special C's version of 'Alberta Bound' on repeat during his travels.