Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers - 'So Familiar' (Official Video)

“The Long-Awaited Album,” Steve Martin’s long-awaited new album with the North Carolina group the Steep Canyon Rangers, is full of stories that mix humor and melancholy, whimsy and realism, rich characters and concrete details. And lots of banjos. That instrument—so dexterously, even acrobatically picked and strummed—proves just as crucial to relating these tales as the lyrics themselves, each chord and riff revealing depths to Martin’s narrators and to his musical talent. In the eight years since The Crow introduced him as an idiosyncratic bluegrass musician, as fluid in his technique as he is knowledgeable of its history, Martin has worked to refine his craft and push the form forward. Following 2011’s Rare Bird Alert, his first album to feature the Rangers, he recorded a pair of records with Edie Brickell, which earned the duo a Grammy for Best American Roots Songs for “Love Has Come for You.” In 2016, Bright Star, a musical based on the duo’s songs, debuted on Broadway and earned five Tony nominations.

Rather than a departure, Martin’s musical career is an extension of the storytelling impulse that drove his work as a comedian, an actor, a screenwriter, a playwright, an essayist, and a novelist. “I think those influences come into play in these songs, because when I’m writing lyrics, I’m always thinking, What happens next? Where does the story go from here?” Bluegrass music is, among many other things, a means to spin yarns, to tell tales, to ponder the felicities of the heart.

“The Long-Awaited Album” is full of love songs. Some, like the boisterous “Caroline,” are humorous; others, like “All Night Long,” are heavy with a gentle sadness. “There’s nothing richer than talking about romance and heartache,” Martin says. “It’s something everyone can identify with. I love to hear stories about people breaking up—why and how it happened, who said what. I’m fascinated by those stories, but most of these are very optimistic love songs.” Even the instrumental numbers on “The Long-Awaited Album” have the thrust of a narrative arc. “Bluegrass instrumentals conjure a place, especially the banjo,” Martin says. “The banjo especially is evocative of hills and dells and trees and joy.” That’s true of “Angelina the Barista,” a spry banjo ramble whose three-finger riffs conjure a well-trod dance floor somewhere in rural America—with just the slightest whiff of espresso in the air.

These songs have been percolating in Martin’s head for most of the 2010s, finding outlets at sound checks and live shows and band rehearsals. They began recording them piecemeal—no deadlines, no pressure—in cities around the country: Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and Asheville, North Carolina, which the Rangers call home. At the helm was legendary producer Peter Asher, who has worked on classic albums by Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, and many others; he also who produced Martin’s two albums with Brickell.“ The sessions went very quickly, because I’d say eighty percent of the tunes we had played onstage a lot,” says Martin. “We got to rehearse them while touring, so we worked pretty quickly in the studio. Because we knew the songs really well, we also knew how to change them up.”

“Steve Martin has done a lot for bluegrass music,” says Platt, “just in the sheer volume of people he’s played the banjo for or talked about bluegrass with, whether it’s on late-night TV or at show with 5,000 people. He’s been an amazing ambassador for the banjo and for bluegrass music, and we’re all grateful for that.”

With “The Long-Awaited Album” Martin continues to nudge the boundaries of the banjo, respectfully but irreverently, which has established him as one of the most popular—and, in fact, among the finest—roots musicians working today. Yet, he remains a humble student of the instrument, still learning new techniques and considering new tricks. “My taste has grown to more melodic and simpler, so that I can accommodate being twenty years behind people like Béla Fleck and Noam Pikelny. I’ve written almost one hundred songs now, and I can’t believe I get to work with this great band that helps me work them out, orchestrate them, and add so much interest to them.”

Available here

Directed, Produced, and Edited by: Laurence Jacobs
Cinematography: Nico Navia
Additional Camera: Genéa Gaudet, Jake Sawyer, Ryan Pawlak and Laurence Jacobs
Production Design: Meg Sunzeri
Makeup Artist: Sussy Campos
Additional Editing and Color Grading: Patrick Murray
Production Assistant: Ryan Pawlak
Label: Josh Berman, Brooks Jones, Ashley Moyer, Eliza Levy, and Matt Miller.
Special Thanks: Jesse and everyone at Mack Sennett!

[fireyflower]

You can see in his face when he plays, that in his soul he has found his bliss

[cybhex]

How does this not have millions of views rn 🤷🏾‍♂️🤔

[gaoutlaw]

Music, movies, comedy, Steve is a true master of the arts.

[martyclary]

Though he’s had a wonderful comedy and acting career over the years just seeing some of his face expressions early in this video seems at peace with himself and is enjoying the later part of his life playing music and being totally happy with life

[vincentmckiernan]

Again, amazing. PLEASE DO NOT retire form music. I am no one, asking.

[jboreal]

Steve's a great guy. He came to the Port of Jubail in Saudi Arabia in 91 (pretty sure it was 91) to visit us troops, I'll never forget how gracious he was. I still have the picture too. Glad to see he's still pickin', he's talented and passionate banjo player. Grammy for Steve and the SCRs!

[KEvinHurney-bp]

It’s cool that a lot of the rich actors put extra time into musical talents and do things like play in bands for fun. Probably finding a good purpose for themselves.

[foxerrr]

I’ll never get tired of Steve Martin playing the banjo. 🙌🏻

[danielglenn]

Steve Martin is probably very grateful that he gets the opportunity to play together with musicians of this caliber. Looking back, getting up on stage with a banjo and an arrow on your head was a great career move! He is amazingly talented.

[DarkPaleUnicorn]

thank you, Chris Griffin. I didn't know I wanted to see Steve play banjo. LOVE IT!

[ursafan]

If you had told me 20 years ago that the bango was more than just a prop for Mr. Martin's comedy act, I'd have not believed it.
I've seen him with the Steep Canyon Rangers twice and the man can play!
Hope they all keep coming back to Merlefest.

[ACSmith-rcxk]

Oh my gosh another reason to be a Steve Martin fan. I LOVE IT!

[eccolibri]

I love that Steve can be such a talented musician and still be such a goofball at the same time.

[erdekesnem]

Holy cow, this is EPIC. The riff, the composition, the solos, omg, everything's just as it should be. Truly amazing performance!

[PirateFrodoPotter]

This was honestly so awesome, thank you for sharing and thank you Allison for being awesome too!

[avgjoe-czcb]

If America had an equivalent of Knighthood, we would all be calling Steve Martin 'Sir Steven Martin.' Well done Sir. And well deserved. May you see your 100th Birthday and still surprising us with good humor.

[jimjamthebananaman]

I live in Cornwall, UK. Driving through the country roads listening to this music elicits the same feeling gs as when I was walking g through Savannah, GA 3 weeks ago with this on my headphones. Life is good is how I felt!

[tomt]

It doesn’t matter what he’s doing, he always makes me smile! “These cans are defective!”

[GooDay]

You have great movies, you play great music, you have an excellent jacket. Thank you Steve Martin.

[olfoogy]

I love it when a comedian takes at least one thing seriously and Stevie you play that mean banjo baby