No joke: Steve Martin releases musical album

By John Gerome

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Steve Martin has packed so much into his 63 years that it almost seems easier to mention what he hasn’t done instead of what he has.

A comedian, actor, playwright, author, musician, art collector, juggler and magician, Martin’s latest feat is “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,” his first full album of music.

The disc is no joke. Martin wrote or co-wrote all 15 tracks, only one of which is overtly comedic.

A banjo picker since he was 17, he’s good enough to hold his own with masters like Earl Scruggs and Tony Trischka, both of whom are guests on the album along with Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McEuen, a high school friend of his who also produced the record.

“I don’t know if people know I play. Only if they were around in the ’70s,” Martin said recently by phone. “I really haven’t played publicly for a long time.

“I started thinking, standing back from my banjo career and looking at it, it is weird. What if David Letterman picked up the violin and played like (bluegrass fiddler) Paul Warren. I think that would be a surprise.”

Although Martin has a reputation as a tough interview, on this afternoon he’s cordial and reflective. The one thing the superstar comedian is not is funny. He hardly cracks a joke.

“You can’t be up all the time. It would be very boring for people,” says Martin.

His interest in the banjo began in the ’60s after hearing Flatt & Scruggs’ seminal “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

He mostly taught himself to play from books and records (he’d slow the turntable way down to learn the parts). Later, while honing his comedy act in Los Angeles clubs like the Troubadour, he was inspired by the progressive bluegrass band the Dillards.

“It seemed impossible, but I just loved the sound of it,” recalls the Texas born, California raised-Martin.

While he never seriously considered a career in music — “I didn’t have enough confidence to play in a group on a stage,” he says — Martin did work the instrument into his stand-up bits like “Ramblin’ Man,” a parody of group sing-a-longs (check out YouTube to see him perform it on “The Muppets”).