HENHOUSE PROWLERS, Unravel

Even two decades and 10 studio albums into the Henhouse Prowlers’s extraordinary, internationally celebrated career, it’s hard to believe that one of America’s most creative, adventurous and emotionally impactful bluegrass/Americana bands is from Chicago – a city generally notable for everything else, from blues, jazz and gospel to house music.

Grounded in and driven by the quartet’s infectious vocal harmonies, rollicking bass grooves (via Jon Goldfine)  and guitar flatpicking (Chris Dollar), mandolin (Jake Howard) and Scruggs style banjo virtuosity (Ben Wright), their reach extends far beyond traditional musical accolades accorded to influential bands in their genre. Having brought their irresistible energy and insightful storytelling to Russia and countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, they’ve worked for over a decade with the U.S. State qDepartment as cultural ambassadors via the American Music Abroad and Arts Envoy programs.

Their tireless diplomacy work inspired them to create the non-profit Bluegrass Ambassadors, which aims to educate and inspire through the cultural exchange of music. Celebrating their two decade anniversary in grand, freewheeling style, the Prowlers’ 10th album Unravel is a musically and harmonically sublime, rhythmically eclectic and thematically diverse (and sometimes decidedly quirky and quite literally, “out there”) affair that will inspire fun and furious toe tappin’ and thought-provoking conversations in equal measure.

As old fans and new listeners alike revel in romps like the hopeful and plucky, come what may travel adventure “Look Up to the Sky” and the whimsical, gee whiz romance “Poor Boy Like Me” (inspired by the real- life travails and triumph of co-writer Rick Lang), they might soon realize there’s no actual cut titled Unravel. Explaining the collection as “an amalgamation of the thoughts, feelings and experiences of four wildly different humans that have found a way to be creative in the same space at the same time,” they allowed themselves to be vulnerable and open to “opinions, change and upheaval” that may have been against their instincts.

Meaning, they were open to unraveling themselves in the only way they knew. Speaking of space, one need not know the details of the band’s creative dynamics to appreciate a bizarre, decidedly non-romantic but still super engaging literal flight of fancy like “Space Man,” the bluegrassy equivalent to Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” which, inspired by a real life story about two astronauts who spent 286 days in space, contemplates what re-entry into mainstream life might be like. They sort of answer their own question with “Climb that Mountain,” an inspiring and aspirational earthbound adventure showcasing the band’s intricate strings interaction.

Another off the beaten path choice is the album’s lone cover, an emotionally charged take on Genesis’ mid-80s synth-rock barnburner “Land Of Confusion” whose lyrics about losing control of the worl are perhaps even more relevant today than they were 40 years ago. The Prowlers’ version strips away all the extreme drums, synth energy and weird video images we’ve long associated with the original – and the heavy rockin’ of the later Disturbed version - so we can focus on the powerful messaging and imagery. Another must-listen to gem tucked into the flow on Unravel is “Line the Streets,” a lively and poignant portrayal of multiple generations of servicemen and women that began as a tribute to Wright’s grandfather (a B-25 pilot in WWII) that ultimately poses the question, “Every time they say we’ve won/I wonder what we lose.”

The album was engineered andproduced by Stephen Mougin, who owns the label Dark Shadow Recording and runs it with his wife Jana. For more information:

https://darkshadowrecording.com