Seven weeks to the Special C.

At present Jeff and Vida (USA), New Orleans's gift to bluegrass music, are in the middle of their current tour; and we can look forward to the new year opening with a bang, with another welcome tour from the Special Consensus (shown here in the current lineup: left to right, Ryan Roberts, David Thomas, Greg Cahill, Rick Faris).

The Special C. tour these islands, beginning on Wed. 12 January with eight dates in Ireland. On 20 January they cross to Britain for five shows, returning to Ireland for a further three between 26 January and the end of the month. The tour takes in two annual events here: the Shannonside Winter Music Weekend at Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, and Colfer's Bluegrass and Americana Weekend at Carrig-on-Bannow, Co. Wexford. All the dates are on the BIB calendar, with further details and comments on the band's own tour schedule.

The current (Nov. 2010) issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has the band on the cover, with a major 3,000-word article inside by award-winning writer (and songwriter, and bandleader) Chris Stuart on the Special C.'s founder and leader, Greg Cahill. Read it in full here.