Reverb donates $2500 to Bluegrass Ambassadors to bring instruments to Czech Republic!

The best place to buy music gear online, REVERB.COM, has donated $2500 to the Henhouse Prowlers non-profit Bluegrass Ambassadors to buy instruments for an educational program the band will be doing in Czech Republic in November.

When we bring our educational music workshops to the Czech Republic November 8–10, we will have with us nearly a dozen stringed instruments destined for young Czech musicians. The instruments are being donated to Czech children by American online music retailer Reverb’s philanthropic program “Reverb Gives”.

The Prowlers will immediately put the instruments into action in a series of Bluegrass Ambassadors workshops in the Železný Brod region. “English Through Music” for school-age children will focus on singing and rhythm, while “Bluegrass at Blue Owl” will teach young musicians bluegrass techniques. The band will then hold a third workshop in Jablonec nad Nisou as part of the 35th annual “Posvícení v modrém” bluegrass festival.

Bluegrass music has a long tradition in the Czech Republic. In postwar communist-ruled Czechoslovakia, American music was picked up clandestinely on shortwave radio broadcasts from West Germany. It has evolved as a diaspora of American bluegrass and remains popular to this day.

The collaboration between the Bluegrass Ambassadors and Blue Owl / Modrá sova z.s. is envisioned as a long-term partnership. The Chicago musicians plan to return in 2019 with follow-up workshops and will continue to interact with young Czech musicians after their return to the USA via Skype.

We can’t thank Reverb.com enough for this amazing opportunity to make a Bluegrass Ambassadors program have even greater impact while we’re there AND after we leave.