How to format USB Stick?

I'm using an RPI3. Seems to boot up fine. I bought a new 32 gb USB drive today, formatted it to FAT32, named the drive 'samples', and put on folder on it called "/0 flute/". I can see this folder when I type in 'ls /media' but am not getting sound. i'm trying to rule out that the USB drive is the source of my problem.

Can somebody provide a definitive answer about exactly what is required for the USB drive?

specifically:
which USB drives work?
how to format the drive?
what to call the the drive (if this matters)?
and how to place a sample set on the drive?
how to 'mount' the drive?

I use a 16GB that works, but I haven't concluded exactly where my popping noises are coming from. I think a 1 GB max would not be a bad idea. Who needs more room than that after creating loop points and leaving out every other sample?

The pops occur when I send program changes.

How is your drive formatted, Nate? FAT32? EXT4? What is your drive called (does this matter)?

When you type 'lsblk' what is the name of your drive? (Mine is 'sda' and 'sda1')

Troy, it is FAT32 formatted. I'm using a SanDisk Cruzer Glide.