As they say, a good musician plays the music, not the instrument. Never was the truer than in the case of jug bands. Musicians in a jug band use ordinary, homemade instruments (along with some traditional instruments) to make beautiful music. An old-fashioned washboard becomes a rhythm instrument. A pair of kitchen spoons helps to keep the beat. A washtub with a broomstick handle and a piece of cord becomes a string bass. Of course, a jug band always has an empty jug used as a wind instrument.
Jug bands have long been a part of the world of jazz and blues music. African-American musicians created this style of music around the beginning of the 20 century in Louisville. Later, jug bands became popular in other river town like Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Traditional instruments like the guitar and the violin, or "fiddle", were already popular in southern music. When musicians discovered they could play musical notes with whiskey jugs, the jug band was born.