Sweat the Small Stuff

This one's for the underdogs of the musical world. No, I'm not talking of the numerous indie bands toiling in obscurity...this time I am talking about the instruments themselves. Drums, guitars, keyboards, we know you. You are part of every respectable rock band, in some configuration. I'm talking about the Rodney Dangerfields of the instrumentation world. These are the accent instruments that act, to me, as the "seasoning" of the song. In other words, they bring out the excellence of a song much like the proper spice brings out the flavor in food. Here are some examples of what I am talking about:

• Mandolin- Admit it...you liked Bruce Hornsby's 80's piece de resistance, "Mandolin Rain". That was my formative introduction to the high-pitched stringed instrument. To me, there is just something delicate and beautiful to the plucked notes of a mandolin cascading through a melody. See: "Green and Gray" by Nickel Creek (or virtually anything else by them, the darlings of "new grass.")

• Harmonica- I am such a sucker for a good harmonica solo. I tend to see the "Mississippi Saxophone" as a children's instrument, but after trying to play the dang thing, defer to someone who actually knows what they're doing. I must clarify here: I really don't care for the rambling harmonica solo, a la Blues Traveler, but a well-placed, subtle solo elevates a decent song to great for me. See: "Desire" by Ryan Adams, or various songs by Bob Dylan or Neil Young, the masters of the great harmonica solo.

• Piccolo Trumpet- Just naming this instrument in the context of rock music just has to conjure up the Beatles in musical minds. "Penny Lane" to be exact. OK, you got me, this song would be great without the famous meandering, staccato, piccolo trumpet solo, but can you really imagine the song without it?
  

• Marimba, French Horn, Shakers, Tambourine- White Stripes purists may have turned their noses up at the prospect of Jack and Meg not playing only searing guitar and steady drums, but for me, their courage to experiment and expand made them more interesting. One song, "Nurse" features the marimba prominently, which sounds great, but would have been the last instrument I would have guessed they would feature. One of my favorite super-mellow bands, Hem, has a song called "Sailor" that has the only known pop/rock French Horn solo (to my recollection). It's languid, lilting, and beautifully brilliant. And finally, there are the various percussive complementary instruments, like shakers and tambourines, without which songs would just not be the same. (Don't even get me started on cowbells!)

There you have it; I'm sure I will have french horn players all over the world thanking me for bringing their brass out of the shadows and onto the pages of an obscure blog.