PERU, Ind. -- Most people use gourds for fall decorations or crafting. Not Ron Luginbill. Give the 72-year-old Peru resident a gourd, and a few weeks later, he'll have turned it into an exquisitely ...

The gourd banjos have sound holes on the side and the size of those holes will impact the instrument’s sound. If they’re large the sound will be more booming, but if it’s too large they can actually ...

The gourd’s remarkable plasticity, its ability to take on wildly different shapes, colors, and textures, mirrors its ...

Latrobe Valley folk musician Penelope Swales was talking with a guitar maker about the difficulties in being paid for the time spent on the craft before the focus turned to a gourd she had bought from ...

Such a gardener is Arthur Stephens of the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. He’s not looking for chaste gourds; he wants ones that whisper, “I’m a shakere” and “Make me your mbira.” When Stephens ...

The James Madison Museum was packed Sunday afternoon as Dr. Dena Jennings thrilled the audience with her discussion about the history of the banjo and her handmade gourd instruments. Jennings' lecture ...

The bottle gourd, beloved since pre-Columbian times not only for its voluptuous shape but for its endless uses, very likely floated on ocean currents from its native Africa to South America inside the ...