Shane Speal, whose Snake Oil Band headlines the first New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival on Saturday, started out playing something with a little more firepower. “In the ’80s, I was a bass player ...

Pary Flynn's cigar box guitar made from an old sycamore tree that was on the Faucek/McKee Farm in Edwardsville. The farm is currently being developed into commercial businesses across from the ...

The cigar box guitar fell out of favor as real stringed instruments became more accessible but had a brief resurgence in popularity during the Great Depression. African American performers in jug ...

A cigar box is just a cigar box — except when it's a guitar. In the hands of Gipson Shoemaker III, the simple wooden box becomes a musical instrument worth hundreds of dollars and capable of producing ...

It has been said that no zydeco band is complete without a rubboard and an accordion. But deep in the birthplace of zydeco, an exhibit at the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center features a different type ...