About
Jake Howard offers a promising and captivating preview for the future of mandolin. His career has evolved from hours hunched over YouTube and sticky-floored bar gigs to his roles now as the mandolinist for the Henhouse Prowlers and Westbound Situation. Starting at the age of fifteen, Jake found himself enamored with roots music. Less than three years after he first started playing his Kentucky A-style mandolin, Jake began studying with another idol and future mentor, Joe K. Walsh, at the Berklee College of Music, ultimately graduating with a B.A. in Performance and American Roots Music.
Jake’s playing has a distinctive curiosity, always looking for more. His mandolin is first and foremost a tool of emotional expression where he can examine the relationship between roots music and intense sentiment. Through this pursuit, Jake was essential in the creation of multiple groups, most notably, the Page Turners which carried him across much of the US on a consistent string of tours and earned the Freshgrass Best Duo Award in 2016. Following this, Jake joined the Henhouse Prowlers and quickly found a new space for growth, exploring various styles of world music through a bluegrass lens.
Jake is equal parts impactful player and versed teacher instructing at programs such as Savannah Music Festival’s Musical Explorers in partnership with Carnegie Hall, Bluegrass Ambassadors, Ossipee Valley Music Camp, Berkeley Music Festival, Berklee Five Week and String Intensive and Julian Fiddle Camp in addition to teaching private instruction. Jake considers himself to be a lifelong student and values the privilege of sharing his experiences in music with others.
Jake will make his Henhouse Prowlers’ album debut with their upcoming record The Departure, coming out May 21. You can catch him on the road with them and Westbound Situation in the near future.
Projects
Henhouse Prowlers
THE HENHOUSE PROWLERS ARE BLUEGRASS AMBASSADORS.
Founded over 15 years ago with the simple desire to play original and powerful bluegrass, this quartet now finds themselves at the intersection of performance, diplomacy and education.
The Prowlers have now been to more than 25 countries across the globe, working with the U.S. State Department and under their own nonprofit, Bluegrass Ambassadors - incorporating music from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and more into their already robust repertoire of unique traditional American music.
On stage, in workshops and wherever they are, the Henhouse Prowlers find and spread the commonality we share as human beings through the universal language of music.
YOU CAN FEEL IT AT EVERY SHOW.
Westbound situation
Westbound Situation blends the precision of classical chamber music, the rhythmic drive of bluegrass, and the colorful expression of jazz into a new style of chamber music—chambergrass. The quartet—comprised of Grant Flick on violin, Jake Howard on mandolin, Zach Brown on cello, and Jacob Warren on bass—mixes composition and improvisation seamlessly into their entirely memorized arrangements.
Westbound Situation has a strong commitment to music education. The group’s combined experience in classical, bluegrass, jazz, and original/improvised music is something not typically offered in the standard curriculum found at most schools and colleges (at least not all at the same time). These styles, among others, give each student the chance to make their own music, and through this process valuable lessons in creativity, listening, and leadership are achieved. Each member of the group maintains a private studio, and all have been invited to provide workshops and masterclasses at schools and festivals across the country.
Westbound Situation’s exciting and diverse concerts feature a set of unique original repertoire colored with recognizable standards from many genres. With bluegrass, classical chamber music, and jazz all coming together in the group’s concept of chambergrass, a Westbound Situation concert is dazzling musical journey not soon forgotten.