Haymes calls himself a “utility infielder” in Ramblin Jug Stompers, responsible for many of the unusual sounds that don’t come from the typical stringed instruments in acoustic bands. At the band’s ...

Music has a funny way of surprising us. Sometimes it's not the guitar solo or the vocal runs that stick with you. You know the ones. The tracks where you pause and think, what is that? That little ...

Throughout musical history, countless instruments have faced extinction, victims of changing tastes, industrialization, and ...

April 2, 2012 • The minute its members were ensconced in our office, So Percussion started borrowing items to add to its set, from an amplified cactus and bells to a mug filled with spare change and ...

Musical innovation and uniqueness is what tends to set great artists apart from their contemporaries. Especially when it comes to the use of creative, unorthodox, or perhaps odd, instruments. Or ...

There are instruments that are the tentpoles of rock: the drums, lead guitar, bass, and keyboard. But every so often, bands will get the bright idea to bring something new to the mix. Across the ...

Last week, host Andrea Seabrook asked listeners to send in home recordings and photographs of their oddest musical instrument. The responses were eclectic, and some were indeed strange. Here is a ...

On this week's Rhythm Planet we check out the hang, the UFO Swiss take on the steel drum.

Movies set in the past often rely on music to tell us just where we are. Most, but not all, of the composers of this year’s period pieces felt the obligation to reflect time and place. For Ridley ...