The Henhouse Prowlers are a Chicago-based group of youngsters trying mightily to re-create the spirit and form of vintage bluegrass. The six-piece band have no drummer and use strictly acoustic instruments, in keeping with traditional bluegrass values, and their voices (all six sing) are if anything slightly too studied in their dead-on mimicry of old-fashioned Clinch Mountain twang. The songs are a mix of band originals and suitable covers like Bill Monroe’s “Sittin’ Alone in the Moonlight” and Guy Clark’s “Homegrown Tomatoes.” The album’s one botch is a pointless, cutesy version of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” done up in the bluegrass style, which doesn’t work as a joke or as music. That pandering misstep aside, this is a solid piece of contemporary bluegrass with its heart in the right place. – Stewart Mason