Rare Bird Alert

 (108 customer reviews)

Steve Martin continues his career as a blue grass singer. This time he teams up with a five man band from North Carolina who call themselves the Steep Canyon Rangers. These guys can really play and sing. They harmonize so well on the track "More Bad Weather On The Way". This song has only one line of lyric, but the musical instruments playing on it is superb. The disc contains upbeat tracks like "Rare Bird Alert" and "Hide Behind A Rock". These songs are blue grass in the most pure form. I am blown away by the way the guys of Steep Canyon Rangers play the banjo. These two tracks put me in a good mood. I love the humor in the songs on this disc. My favorite track is "Jubliation Day". This is the funniest break up song I have ever heard. "Atheists Don't Have No Songs" is a very funny song about music and observations about religion. My other favorite track is the instrumental tune "The Great Remember". The fiddle playing by Nicky Sanders gives this song a romantic tone that I really...Read more

The Brevard Music Center in Brevard, NC, annually hosts the Mountain Song Festival. The lead act and one of the main sponsors is the Steep Canyon Rangers, a well-known and loved blue grass group from the area and known to the locals as "The Steeps." During the 2008 Festival, the first that I attended, the Steeps were a few minutes into their second show when lead singer Woody Platt announced that there was an "older guy" backstage who said he could play the banjo and wanted to sit in with the band for a song or two. From between the back curtains walked Steve Martin. The crowd went absolutely wild - the people seated out on the lawn began quickly moving towards the stage - all were clapping and screaming like a bunch of teenaged girls at a Back Street Boys concert, which they were not since the average age in the crowd had to be well north of 50. What followed was a superb performance showing not only Martin's skills on the banjo but the vast musical skills of each member of the...Read more

A strong collection of music from start to finish. My immediate favorites are Jubilation Day for its humor and the Great Remember, for its beauty and sadness. Buy the CD instead of downloading...the illustrations and booklet are fantastic. You'll read every word and study every illustration.