The Henhouse Prowlers teach schoolchildren in Olten, Switzerland (March 2018)
From their home in Chicago, The Henhouse Prowlers have become world travelers. In recent years, they have made several trips to foreign lands for the US State Department, using bluegrass music as a way to break down boundaries and share good will with banjos and fiddles.
One aspect of these overseas tours that has especially captured the Prowlers’ imagination is the many school visits they have made en route. Their trips have brought them to meet schoolchildren and teachers in Uganda, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Kyrgyzstan, and always the students are delighted to learn more about their unusual instruments and the United States. If you’ve ever seen young children experience bluegrass for the first time, you know that it always generates a smile – and an urge to dance – all across the globe.
Now the guys have formed a new organization, called Bluegrass Ambassadors, to promote and encourage this sort of cross-cultural communication, and to offer their help and services to the wider community. They have developed a number of presentations the band can give to music schools and educators about their international experiences, and they welcome support and collaboration with anyone who shares their mission.
Here is a video they made this month during a trip to Olten in Switzerland, where they taught the lyrics to one of their songs, Take Me Back To You, to a group of young students in English, German, and French.
You can learn more about the Bluegrass Ambassadors program online. The Prowlers have set as their goal being able to offer these presentations and make school visits anywhere in the world, regardless of ability to pay. They humbly request financial support to make that possible.
