"Plink, plink, plink"

There's nothing like buying a new album (or a CD, if so it must be) and putting it on for the first time. I just got Steve Martin's banjo album. I think he's great and generally comes through; he certainly does here. He does stand up, acts, writes, directs, plays music and even sings well.

"Years ago, in my old comedy act, I said, 'You just can't play a sad song on the banjo.' This was for comic effect only, because I knew the banjo had a capacity for mournful melodies and the 'high, lonesome sound.' As I was sometimes mournful, sometimes lonesome and sometimes high, this suited me perfectly....I can't imagine the vacancy I would have in my life without this peculiar instrument running through it. The songs I have written for this record represent the influence of a dozen players and a thousand tunes, and I thank them all, but it's the banjo itself I thank most, this musical and geometrically beautiful object, a circle with a stick attached, four strings running up to its end, and a droning fifth string stopping halfway up the neck. It shouldn't even be playable, but it is... I recently took a photo of my wife sitting on the floor reading a book. Later, I realized it inadvertently contained three things I love most in my life; my wife, my dog, and my banjo. The only thing missing were all my friends, whom I could not have crowded into the picture..."

Here's a lovely song called Pretty Flowers, featuring Steve on banjo and vocals by Vince Gill and Dolly Parton.