The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo

Martin wrote 14 of the 15 songs on this album. If you like original banjo music, this is for you. Martin had help from Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Mary Black, Tony Trischka, Tim O'Brien and Pete Wrenick. It was produced by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's John McEuen, a high school friend of Martin's. You can get this as a download from Amazon, but you will miss out on the 24 page book by Martin about the recording, the ensemble and his long relationship with the 5-string banjo. Forty-three minutes of great stuff.

Comedian, actor, novelist, playwright and all around fool Steve Martin takes off his rabbit ears, removes the arrow from his head and picks up his banjo and wails. Yes, move over John Hartford, John McEuen and Earl Scruggs. Steve can really play with the best of 'em. And he's smart enough to surround himself with some of the finest country and bluegrass muscians around; Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, John McEuen and Earl Scruggs to name just a few. Like comedian Woody Allen who shows off his Dixiland chops on clarinet, Steve Martin demonstrates his outstanding Bluegrass prowess on the five string banjo...A virtuoso indeed and equally impressive his songwriting is absolutely first rate.

Honestly, this collection could easily have been recorded by the late-great John Hartford. It's just that colorful, warm and humorous. Several compositions, "Tin Roof", "Words Unspoken" and "Wally On The Run" sound as if they were recorded during John's legendary "Aeroplane" sessions. And the...Read more

The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo showcases Steve Martin's exceptional ability to perform very fine, bluegrass music often with some rather complicated arrangements as he plays the banjo and sings his heart out. This album gives us some great numbers and the guest appearances on the CD only make it even better--not that Steve Martin needed backup but it sounds wonderful anyway. The quality of the sound is quite good and the artwork is excellent. I also like that it comes with an extremely informative and well written booklet; and the fact that Steve Martin wrote almost all of the songs on this CD impresses me very much.

"Daddy Played the Banjo" starts the CD very well; Steve's voice never sounded better and the melody is actually rather pretty. "Daddy Played the Banjo" is a strong start for this CD and that's grand. Earl Scruggs also plays on "Daddy Played The Piano." "Hoedown at Alice's" also boasts a catchy melody and Steve plays that banjo very well. He...Read more