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 ...

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 ...

Duck herders in Java have been using a traditional large bamboo object called a kowangan to protect themselves against the rain. The kowangan can be worn as a hat or be placed on the ground as a ...

Pianos use little hammers striking taut strings to make tones. The Mellotron used lots of individual tape mechanisms. Meanwhile, the Trans-Harmonium from [Emily Francisco] uses an altogether more ...

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.

A mysterious group of prehistoric hunter-gatherers who once inhabited the southern Texas coast may have created music in a hauntingly unconventional way—by transforming human bones into instruments.