TheTanaka - Posted - 08/05/2013:  18:13:48

Excuse my ignorance but I just found out today that Steve Martin plays the banjo. You know, the guy who stared in Father of the Bridge and The Jerk.

Actually, I was told he takes it very seriously and is building his professional reputation in the space. Has anyone ever heard him play? Is this for real and not a PR stunt? I was looking for some additional information to verify this and while I found a few lists of famous professional banjo players I couldn't find much about celebrity banjo personalities.

beegee - Posted - 08/05/2013:  18:22:49

Steve has been playing the banjo for years, and is quite good and quite versatile and serious about his playing.  He is good enough not to have to apologize to anybody and takes it to the bank. He is quite knowledgeable about banjos and has several valuable vintage Gibson banjos. He has been touring the past several years with the Steep Canyon Rangers.

May I be so bold to ask, is your real name Rip Van Winkle?

msacland - Posted - 08/05/2013:  18:54:38

He is absolutely fantastic. Seen him two years ago at merlefest in NC. Very entertaining and quite a player as well. He has been using his banjo in comedy routines for a long long time but is now playing very seriously. There are piles of YouTube videos of him performing and I think he is on his third album now, two with the rangers and the latest with Edie brikell.

mixmkr - Posted - 08/05/2013:  19:01:18

Hey..BucketHead was on that list of famous players. Who'd a thought...?

chucksiler - Posted - 08/05/2013:  19:37:57

quote:

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Originally posted by TheTanaka

 

Excuse my ignorance but I just found out today that Steve Martin plays the banjo. You know, the guy who stared in Father of the Bridge and The Jerk.

Actually, I was told he takes it very seriously and is building his professional reputation in the space. Has anyone ever heard him play? Is this for real and not a PR stunt? I was looking for some additional information to verify this and while I found a few lists of famous professional banjo players I couldn't find much about celebrity banjo personalities.

 

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They even played  in Anchorage Alaska this last winter. Great show! 

Big I - Posted - 08/05/2013:  19:45:00

youtube.com/watch?v=1jn3KCZEqxc

This should answer your question.

eagleisland - Posted - 08/05/2013:  19:47:48

Steve Martin was a serious banjo player long before he established himself as a comedian.  He used the banjo as a prop in his comedy routines in the 1970s and early 1980s, and he played it well then.  But it was mostly a gag.  Even so, he never lost his love for it.

Martin is a man who has a wide variety of talents, and who has been able to exploit many of them. I, for one, am delighted that he is concentrating on the banjo these days. I have seen him live, and can vouch that he is a true musician, and I cannot imagine a better ambassador for the instrument.

You must be a young 'un, or you'd probably know that.  Regardless, you're new here, and you are most welcome aboard!

Edited by - eagleisland on 08/05/2013 19:48:56

dmiller - Posted - 08/05/2013:  19:59:46

quote:

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Originally posted by Big I

 

youtube.com/watch?v=1jn3KCZEqxc

This should answer your question.

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dmiller - Posted - 08/05/2013:  20:19:06

quote:

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Originally posted by eagleisland

 

Steve Martin was a serious banjo player long before he established himself as a comedian.  He used the banjo as a prop in his comedy routines in the 1970s and early 1980s, and he played it well then.  But it was mostly a gag.  Even so, he never lost his love for it.

Martin is a man who has a wide variety of talents, and who has been able to exploit many of them. I, for one, am delighted that he is concentrating on the banjo these days. I have seen him live, and can vouch that he is a true musician, and I cannot imagine a better ambassador for the instrument.

You must be a young 'un, or you'd probably know that.  Regardless, you're new here, and you are most welcome aboard!

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Ironically, ALL of my co-workers never knew Steve picked banjo, or got his start by doing stand up comedy.  They only knew him as an actor and when one "discovered" that he picked they had to tell me. figuring I'd be interested.  They thought I was pulling their leg when I told them about him standing on stage with a banjo in hand, and the arrow though the head doing comedy.  Yes - - they (my co-workers) are all "young uns".   

ravedog - Posted - 08/05/2013:  20:25:48

I bet that I'm the only guy who jammed with...not....but...two steve martins at the same...!
one was the banjo guy the other a guitar picker with the same name...what a way to start the day
was on a sound stage around 6am

DantheBanjoMan - Posted - 08/06/2013:  02:57:02

Originally posted by eagleisland

 

Steve Martin was a serious banjo player long before he established himself as a comedian.

It all depends on how you look at it.  His interest in comedy pre-dates his banjo playing.  According to something Glen Campbell said on the Tonight Show, Steve was still developing his skills as a banjo player when he wrote for Glen's show and was not very good, and by that time Steve had already won an Emmy as a writer for the Smothers Brothers, so he was in some sense established as a comedian at that point.

His original interest was not comedy or banjo but magic, but he later found that comedy was more his thing. 

Joel Hooks - Posted - 08/06/2013:  04:05:46

The strange thing is that when I type "Steve Martin Banjo" in google and hit enter I get "about 1,720,000 results." 

Fathand - Posted - 08/06/2013:  05:33:20

The Old Timer - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:21:31

Steve has put out several CDs in recent years featuring his banjo compositions and playing (The Crow), both clawhammer and Scruggs style with the Steep Canyon Rangers as his "band". He has toured with them extensively. Last year he and the Steeps performed on the PBS July 4 tv show from the mall in Washington. His newest CD is a collaboration with Edie Brickell which is getting excellent reviews, banjo-throughout, and they are touring together.

Steve also put his money where his mouth is and established the "Steve Martin Prize" annually for the banjo player doing the most to advance the banjo. Noam Pikelny and Sammy Shelor have won. $50,000 grant!!!! Steve awards the check to the banjoist on the David Letterman show and they perform a song. He recruited a TOP panel of banjo experts to judge this award, Earl Scruggs was one of the original judges. When Earl won the Kennedy Center honors (on PBS) Steve Martin came out and performed on the banjo in his honor. Years ago.

Steve also bought John Hartford's original pre-war RB 18 Gibson top tension banjo in an auction several years ago, and he performs with it. Steve has long played a converted (neck) Bella Voce (in the arrow through the head photo), I think he also has a Granada, and a more recent RB 250. I think he says he still has the Gibson RB 170 he started out on back in the 1960s.

He is or was managed by John McEuen's brother and he is banjo buddies with John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (I think I have that right).

I call that plenty serious. And he plays VERY well. Uncle Dave Macon might also approve because Steve (unlike Earl) is funny.

The Old Timer - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:21:39

Steve has put out several CDs in recent years featuring his banjo compositions and playing (The Crow), both clawhammer and Scruggs style with the Steep Canyon Rangers as his "band". He has toured with them extensively. Last year he and the Steeps performed on the PBS July 4 tv show from the mall in Washington. His newest CD is a collaboration with Edie Brickell which is getting excellent reviews, banjo-throughout, and they are touring together.

Steve also put his money where his mouth is and established the "Steve Martin Prize" annually for the banjo player doing the most to advance the banjo. Noam Pikelny and Sammy Shelor have won. $50,000 grant!!!! Steve awards the check to the banjoist on the David Letterman show and they perform a song. He recruited a TOP panel of banjo experts to judge this award, Earl Scruggs was one of the original judges. When Earl won the Kennedy Center honors (on PBS) Steve Martin came out and performed on the banjo in his honor. Years ago.

Steve also bought John Hartford's original pre-war RB 18 Gibson top tension banjo in an auction several years ago, and he performs with it. Steve has long played a converted (neck) Bella Voce (in the arrow through the head photo), I think he also has a Granada, and a more recent RB 250. I think he says he still has the Gibson RB 170 he started out on back in the 1960s.

He is or was managed by John McEuen's brother and he is banjo buddies with John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (I think I have that right).

I call that plenty serious. And he plays VERY well. Uncle Dave Macon might also approve because Steve (unlike Earl) is funny.

Lew H - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:45:51

A couple or three years ago, he was taking clawhammer lessons from Mark Johnson--paying the guy to fly up from Florida and teach him new licks! Wish I had that kind of money, and I very glad that he shares it with banjo pickerss and bluegrassers.

John Gribble - Posted - 08/06/2013:  10:11:35

I heard and saw Martin play banjo often at the Ice House in Pasadena, CA in the early days of his career. He was good then. He is also a skilled magician, though the magic in his early standup act was pretty twisted. Really funny, though.

Gymbal31 - Posted - 08/06/2013:  10:33:14

m.youtube.com/watch?v=t3X_0VThSZw

Steve Martin doing magic. 

rbergesch - Posted - 08/06/2013:  10:50:02

I saw Steve on TV in the early 1970s doing comedy (SNL and other places.) But when he got down to playing his banjo, he got very serious. To my recollection, he did not mock the instrument, or play joke tunes; usually just a nice sounding bit of clawhammer... He had obviously been playing for quite some time before he made it onto TV as a comedic act, so he's been playing 50 years or so.

He's starting to get it about right...

Old Hickory - Posted - 08/06/2013:  10:59:19

quote:

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Originally posted by TheTanaka

Excuse my ignorance but I just found out today that Steve Martin plays the banjo. ... Is this for real and not a PR stunt?

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If it's a PR stunt, then he sure fooled the people who give out Grammy and IBMA awards.  And the thousands of people who have attended his banjo concerts and bought his banjo CDs.  And the Steep Canyon Rangers -- a successful and established band in their own right -- who have agreed to play as his backup band.  And Edie Brickell who appears as a featured co-performer on his latest CD. And Tony Trischka who wrote the tab book to Steve's first CD. And . . . oh, forget it.

Just go to YouTube and watch videos of him.  Or iTunes and hear sound bites from all his CDs.  You can see and hear for yourself that he's for real.

He's not the greatest, of course.  But by virtue of his stature, he's doing a lot for the banjo.  I much prefer his contributions to banjo than those of that guy from Mumford and Sons.

The Old Timer - Posted - 08/06/2013:  12:09:40

Good to see that old Tonite Show video of the Great Flydini. Johnny Carson, who started as a boy magician himself (the Great Carsoni) absolutely LOVED that bit!

fgodbey - Posted - 08/06/2013:  12:34:40

Ken Irwin has just posted this TV alert on another forum:

Hi all,

Please tune in to Conan tonight to see Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, and the Steep Canyon Rangers perform "When You Get To Asheville" off their recent album Love Has Come For You.

The show airs on TBS at 11:00 pm.  The music tends to be toward the end of the show but with Steve Martin, there likely will be time on the couch which would come earlier.

Enjoy!

...should be a good segment... they pick & sing with authority, at least they have every time I've caught 'em.

--Frank

Shake-Boy - Posted - 08/06/2013:  18:21:22

Steve promoting the album with Edie Brickell on Jimmy Fallon - Too Funny!   Music is "Crazy Rhythm" which is the same song that Steve, playing Navin Johnson, heard on the radio when he found out he does have rhythm in the movie "The Jerk"

Edited by - Shake-Boy on 08/06/2013 18:27:33

eagleisland - Posted - 08/06/2013:  19:06:36

I've seen that clip several times, and it still cracks me up.  Best part, as far as I'm concerned - Dave Letterman,

a good friend of Martin's and a real suporter of banjo music, with the line "Hey, Jimmy - how's your little skit going?"

geraldh - Posted - 08/06/2013:  23:35:52

quote

:

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Originally posted by Gymbal31

 

m.youtube.com/watch?v=t3X_0VThSZw

 

Steve Martin doing magic. 

 

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Look carefully at that left arm and hand... :)