It’s all lining up perfectly for serious musicians who want to earn a living by playing complex compositions, or by jamming their way through complex 10-minute solos. In fact, a new audience is just being built specifically for them.
Why am I so confident? Because nobody else is, and, typically, when people involved with the music industry start making frightening predictions of the future, destiny reacts and donkey kicks them in the face. Bands like Henhouse Prowlers, making imaginative, sophisticated bluegrass jam-rock, should be just fine.
With the supposed rise of AI and of manufactured pop stars, and with an industry that’s been sturdily built decades ago, young audiences are coming to realize the beauty of hearing a a real person force their way into the magic of being able to play a song like “Look Up at the Sky,” the opening track off the “Unravel” album. Banjo arpeggios cascade joyously while perfectly pitched harmonies sing about living for the moment.
If this retro style of approaching music reminds you of great old times, in the great outdoors, the connection is not made by coincidence. Henhouse Prowlers are delighted if this is what you associate their music with.
That’s because while millions are fighting their way into small apartments in big cities, a significant portion of their peers are dreaming of ways to escape them. Just as well, while millions are fine with what the pop music industry offers them, enough people are scanning for an escape.
Henhouse Prowlers seem determined to let you know that they’re enjoying every pick of those strings and every line sung in unison. “Palomino” brings to mind the harmonies and hippie ideals of bands like CSN. And, “Line Up the Avenues,” one of the strongest compositions here, talks about building memories and having someone to share them with.
But The Prowlers aren’t naive. Unlike the hippies, they do not want to merely present to you a would-be paradise where we can all live under the stars in perfect communion. This world-view has been created through hardships, difficulties and pain. Nobody is above them, not even musicians who can sing in harmony.
The band invents rhythm and blues in its own image on “Headin’ for a Heartache,” takes on the lessons of lost love on “Too Little, Too Late,” and puts their own stamp on a classic about troubled times as they cover “Land of Confusion” by Genesis.
Where does this leave us? A little rain must fall on everyone, sure. But if there’s one thing that you’ll likely take away from “Unravel,” it’s the fact that Henhouse Prowlers are of the mind to collect their good vibes and deliver them through finely-crafted jam band music to audiences. If you can’t find some hope with songs like the marriage-proposal-test of “Honey Will You Be Mine,” the anthem of endurance of “Climb That Mountain,” or the gloriously silly “Space Man,” there’s little else, I’m afraid, anyone can do for you at the moment.
And while the sky keeps pouring on our collective dreams of living together in harmony, Henhouse Prowlers have found a dry place where they can share stories and dare you to give a smile. This may not be all that matters, but it can be everything for a while, if you choose it to be.
“Unravel” is released by Dark Shadow Recording.
