Welcome to the latest post in the Homegrown Plus series, featuring The Henhouse Prowlers, an innovative bluegrass quartet from Chicago. Just like other blogs in the series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections.
The Henhouse Prowlers have been touring and performing for two decades. Now they proudly look to the future, expressing their passion for music and humanity. Banjoist Ben Wright and upright bassist Jon Goldfine have been the heart of the band since its inception, while guitarist Chris Dollar and mandolinist Jake Howard (who joined 7 and 5 years ago respectively) bring fresh energy to the band’s sound.
The Prowlers approach music with a reverence for tradition coupled with willingness to explore beyond the ordinary. In their concert, they apply their trademark four-part harmonies to original songs in the mode of classic country and bluegrass as well as modern Americana. They also play a Kazakh folksong, a Nigerian hip-hop song, and a gospel number that manages to be funny, irreverent, and spiritually sound. Hear the concert in the player below!
In the interview, we learn about the lives of the musicians and how they came to play bluegrass in Chicago. They talk about how young people got involved in acoustic and bluegrass music when they started out, and how their own paths led them to join this band. We discuss particular influences they had in their musical journeys.
The band members also speak quite a bit about their nonprofit, Bluegrass Ambassadors. They explain the genesis of the idea in their tours for the U.S. State Department, and tell some moving stories about their work bringing music around the world.
View the interview in the player below!
You can find both of these videos with more bibliographic information on the Library of Congress website. You can also find them on the Library of Congress YouTube channel.
Collection Connections and Links
Band and Bluegrass Links
- First of all, visit The Henhouse Prowlers online!
- Visit their nonprofit organization, Bluegrass Ambassadors, to learn about their mission of dissolving boundaries of culture, country and communication on a global scale by teaching the universal language of music.
- Visit the DC Bluegrass Union, who helped us promote this concert.
Bluegrass Resource Guide
Bluegrass Music: Resources in the American Folklife Center is your first stop for bluegrass collections and event videos at AFC. American collections at AFC.
Concerts, Other Videos, and Blogs
- Here are most of the bluegrass-related concerts and programs on the Library of Congress website.
- Here are the blog posts at Folklife Today that mention Bluegrass
Thank You!
As always, thanks for watching and listening (and reading)!
The American Folklife Center’s Homegrown Concert Series brings music, dance, and spoken arts from across the country, and some from further afield, to the Library of Congress.
For Homegrown Plus blogs, visit this link at Folklife Today.
For information on current concerts, visit the Folklife Concerts page at Concerts from the Library of Congress.
For past concerts, visit the Homegrown Concerts Online Archive.