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Rhythm Traders Through the Years 1991-2021


Eastern Region of Ghana 1991

Mamady Keita Drops by Rhythm Traders 1998

Bootsy and Patricia Collins at the Namm Show, Anaheim

424 NE Broadway

2004 Workshop with Famoudou Konate

Bryan Hopkins, Djembe builder extraordinaire receives a Guinea shipment

Near Tamale, Ghana 1991

Brad, Caton, & Duffy at the Namm Show

Buddies Gabriel and Benny

El Machin Sandoval models the new merch

Renovating the ML King Storefront, about 2006

Luis Conte drops by the Traders

Oregon Big Beat 2010

Donny Osborne and Mel Brown drop by the Traders

Store Manager Faith doesn't whine!

Namm Show

Brothers from another mother w/ Carmine Appice

Our own Bryan featured in Drum Magazine

Early Ads

With Mehmet Tamdeger of Istanbul Cymbals

Namm's Best in Show Panel

A visit to the Zildjian Factory in Boston

Rhythm Traders Crew, circa 2010: Mario, Sarge, Brad, Nicole, Tony, Scott, Lynn, Bryan and Martin

Mario's jokin around

Merch Brothers

Poker night at the Traders

Namm Show

Rhythm Traders owner, Brad Boynton featured in Music Inc.

Drum Shop Titans, Portland Drum Fair 2010


2 on 2 in the Traders parking lot

2 on 2 in the Traders parking lot

Hey Ben, what happened to your left arm??

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip to Bangkok

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip to Istanbul

Early ads

Early ads - Still called African Rhythm Traders then

Hangin with Louis Bellson at the Namm Show

Brad chooses Big Fat Snare Drum for Best in Show

Traders clinic circa 2012 James, Gabriel, Sarge, Pettitt, Mario, Benny, Alex & Brad

Oregon Big Beat 2010

Sarge & Bryan 2004

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip: Havana 2004

MLK Storefront

Traders, makin the newsreel again!

MLK Storefront Before

The one and only Bobby Torres, drops by the Traders

Rhythm Traders

MLK Before

Moving Day: Brad, Tobias, Jeff, Milko and Crucial Cammie

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip: Dakar 1995

Where it all began in 1992: 920 W. Burnside right by Powell's Books

First clinic, circa 1998: Marty Leonard, Raul Rekow, Orestes Vilato, and Brad

First use of "The Drummer's Toy Store" 2000

Bongoman, our first logo

That's a big drum! Brad with an Atsiemevu from Ghana, West Africa 2001

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip, Istanbul

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip: Seattle World Rhythm Festival circa 2000

2015 Crew: Wes, Mitch, Bryan, Lynn, Wayan, Tony, Brad

Our house branded drums

Miles and Jarrett give thumbs up to our djembe bags, 2009

Sarge and Calixto like our 14" Super Tumba 2005

Oregon Big Beat 2011

Fresh batch of Guinea shells

Hey OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Roadtrip to Namm 2019: JT, Pettitt, Brad & Scotty Mac

Traders crew headed for the honky tonk: Faith, Tony, Ben & Pettitt

Christmas 2020 with Don Worth

Drummer's Toy Store

Rhythm Traders Owner, Brad Boynton

John Wayne Airport 2016

Lynn for the Win!

Mitcholada doesn't monkey around

New diggs grand opening 2008

shenNAMMigans

Brad and JT get up on it

2020 Crew: Bryan, Ben, Scott, Brad, JT, Sarge, Sean, Matt & Wes

SheNAMMigans

Oregon Big Beat - Look at that custom MAPEX snare we gave away !!

Brad and Scotty at the Namm show

Music Inc, feature

SheNAMMigans

Lynn hams it up with Carmine and Vinnie

Country Kevin takes delivery of his new #pearl snare

1992 our first ad - trying to put drums into context !

Rhythm Traders

Sarge throwing down street beats back in 2004

Oregon Big Beat 2010 on our house branded mahogany kit

Ben and Wes with Sally (the SA in SABIAN)

424 NE Broadwday

With Vic Firth himself. Brad told him his VF5A wood tips were his favorite sticks, and Vic replied, "Mine, too!"

With Mamady Keita 2012

2018 Swap Meet, with Rhythm Traders owner Brad Boynton with Portland drumming legends Reinhardt Melz & Caton Lyles

It all started in a small village in West Africa, in 1991 w/ owner Brad Boynton

Early days, literally at the 825 Broadway location. We used an old bar for the checkout counter.

Hope is Vital - Our mural at 424 NE Broadway

Picking up used gear for the shop

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip: Havana 2004

Early Ad Circa 1998 - We still sold videos !

Namm Show 2004 with Caton, Duffy, Arthur, & Brad

Shootin the bull with Raul Rekow

With Remo Belli himself ! Namm show a loooooooon time ago

Rhythm Traders owner Brad Boynton, with LP founder Martin Cohen at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany 2008

Alejandro like our new Skyndeep heads.

SheNAMMigans

A visit from our dear friend Derek Rieth

In other news....

Our house branded caste aluminum snare 2005

Yeah. We have djembes.

Nuevo Generacion at NAMM

Drum Builder Extraordinaire, Bryan Hopkins 2015

Jazz Hands

Fred Armisen drops by Traders

SheNAMMigans with Luis Conte

Portland Drum Brothers

Traders Crew 2010: Sarge, Nicole, Tony, Martin, Lynn, Bryan, Mario, Pettitt, Brad

Friends since 1987, with the legendary Obo Addy

SheNAMMigans Brad & Mitch

Peter likes his tacos


Traders Crew hangs out on MLK Jr. Blvd.

Lynn wants a bigger mallet

A little Rumba for ya, 2008

SheNAMMigans

SheNAMMigans with Pettitt & El Machin

A visit to the DW factory with Thomas Lang

Rhythm Traders Roadtrip: Bosphorus Cymbal Factory, Istanbul with Tim Ennis

First ad 1992 - we don't even know if ethno-percussion was a real term!

Tony Coleman stops by the Traders

Reppin the Fola Hats

Drummer's Toy Store

Oregon Big Beat, 2010

A good Day at the Traders: Bobby Torres, Luis Conte, Miguel Bernal, Caton Lyles, Carmelo Torres, & JT

Sinbad drops by the Traders 2016

New Diggs

Holiday Party at the Traders 2019

Rhythm Traders owner, Brad Boynton

With our buddy Derek Rieth

2020... still OPEN !!

Brands We Love



Brands We Love