Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Cream Calendar Wild and Crazy Banjo Guy: Steve Martin Makes Grand Ole Opry Debut May 30
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Before you get excited thinking that Martin's going to revive his coked-up, arrow-through-the-head, '70s-style stand-up antics, just go ahead and watch the video after the jump of him going off on banjo with Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka. That's right: Martin will be playing songs from his brand-new "first music album" The Crow - New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. From the press release:
Life-long friend John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), who produced the album and assembled an all-star cast to record with Martin, will appear on the show along with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Stuart Duncan, Tim O'Brien, and more. The artists will be performing select songs from the The Crow album, and Martin will sing his song "Late for School"-- the second time he will have sung in public since the 1978 pop culture phenomenon King Tut, the first being on an appearance on Saturday Night Live earlier this year, when he hosted for the fifteenth time.
The Crow is currently available exclusively via Amazon, and it will be for sale at "all music retailers" later in the year. Martin clearly has skills, and after watching the Letterman clip you'll find after the jump, I was significantly more impressed than I was weirded out. So good for him. But after getting the whole serious musician thing out of his system, maybe...just maybe...he'll get to work making another Jerk or LA Story. A dude can dream. Check out the Opry's site for ticket info.
Comments (8)
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His book, Born Standing Up, is great. He talks about playing the banjo throughout it, and mentions a few seminal shows in Nashville (one at Vandy and one at Exit/In). I recommend the audio version. It's great to hear the stories in his voice.
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I seriously love him. I still have my original vinyl I listened to as a kid of his comedy routine with Kind tut, etc. on it.
Yeah, I've read that he never dabbled in much past marijuana. And I suppose I buy that. But it was the '70s, and dude's energy rivaled even that of Robin Williams. I'm thinking even if he never touched the stuff, he assumed people would think he did.
Perhaps I was being a bit cavalier with my tags. To be fair, it's been a long time since I saw it in its entirety. I just recall being bored and not finding the characters particularly compelling. That, and I've never really been a fan of a premise that involves any sort of love triangle. Too harsh?
L.A. Story is one of my favorite movies of all time.
I remember listening to my aunts copy of Mr. Martins very first album and hearing him play banjo on the second side. Ive always loved the musical side of Steve Martin. If I can afford to be there, Im going to this show.
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