There is a bluegrass band that uses "Henhouse" as the first word in the band name. Please, who are they

1. Who they are: a four-piece bluegrass quartet with a global footprint

The group performs under the name The Henhouse Prowlers and markets itself as boundary-defying bluegrass/Americana, touring a new record titled Unravel while maintaining a busy international performance schedule ^[1]. Multiple profiles and institutional appearances identify them as a four-piece band from Chicago that blends traditional bluegrass with global influences and contemporary songwriting ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Origins and lineup: Chicago roots, named founders and current members

Formed in 2004 in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, the Prowlers’ long-running core includes banjoist Ben Wright and upright bassist Jon Goldfine, with guitarist Chris Dollar and mandolinist Jake Howard cited as more recent members who brought fresh energy to the lineup ^{[2] [3]}. Ben Wright is repeatedly identified as a founding member whose banjo journey began after buying an instrument at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a detail reflected in longtime band biographies ^{[1] [5]}.

3. Recorded work and live presence: albums, Library of Congress and festival stages

Across roughly two decades the band has released multiple albums (Wikipedia lists ten studio albums by mid-2025) and played high-profile concert programs such as Live! at the Library of Congress, where the ensemble showcased storytelling, old and new songs, and international tunes ^{[2] [4]}. Regional coverage and radio sessions document that the Prowlers continue to promote new material—stations like Northern Public Radio tracked performances tied to the Unravel record—while outlets such as Bluegrass Today and Last.fm have chronicled their discography and evolution ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

4. Cultural diplomacy and education: Bluegrass Ambassadors and State Department work

A consistent thread in reporting is the band’s role as cultural diplomats: The Henhouse Prowlers have worked with the U.S. Department of State and toured as cultural ambassadors since at least 2013, performing in dozens of countries and structuring educational programming under their nonprofit, Bluegrass Ambassadors ^{[2] [1] [9]}. Press material and interviews describe symposia and concerts—such as events in Prague and Bolivia—framed explicitly as cultural-exchange work intended to connect American bluegrass with global audiences ^{[2] [9] [3]}.

5. How they position their sound: tradition stretched, international influences acknowledged

Interviews and local reporting emphasize that the Prowlers deliberately bridge traditional bluegrass with elements from African, Asian and other folk traditions, both to broaden the music’s vocabulary and to support their educational outreach, a stance the band frames as expanding rather than abandoning bluegrass roots ^{[10] [8]}. Critics of genre-stretching exist in bluegrass communities, and the band itself jokes about avoiding “the Bluegrass police,” acknowledging debates about purity versus innovation ^[10].

6. Reputation, scale, and limits of the record: what reporting confirms — and what it doesn’t

Coverage from regional and national outlets, the Library of Congress, and institutional releases consistently portray the Henhouse Prowlers as an established touring act with diplomatic credentials and a nonprofit mission; specifics vary, with some sources citing tours to “25 countries” and others to “29–30 countries,” reflecting different counts at different moments ^{[9] [4] [6]}. Available reporting establishes the band’s identity, lineup, albums and outreach work reliably, but this review does not attempt to adjudicate internal band disputes, financial details of their nonprofit, or exhaustive discography beyond published summaries because those specifics are not fully documented in the provided sources ^{[1] [2]}.