NEW YORK CITY -- This small cafe in the East Village is filled with sunlight, the smell of coffee, and the soothing tunes of a jazz trio. But this trio is different. There are a saxophone and a bass, ...

Derived from West African hamboning and popularized in the U.S. through 20th-century jug bands, the washboard has been used as a makeshift percussion instrument for more than 100 years. By adding ...

The washboard is a device not much in use these days except as a display in antique stores or, infrequently, as a percussion instrument in a country band. The one handed down to us from my mother, who ...