Steve Martin’s Grand Ole Opry Debut

Artists including Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McEuen, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Stuart Duncan and Tim O’Brien will perform select songs from Martin’s full-length bluegrass album, which was released in January and is currently available exclusively through Amazon.com. It will be available though all music retailers later this year.

Martin will be performing the tune “Late for School.”

Although Martin is known for his standup routine, appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and comedy films, he has been playing the banjo since he was 17, according to Reuters. He also played banjo on Earl Scruggs’ Grammy Award winning recording of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” But you guys already knew Martin had mad music skills – I mean, does it get any better than his 1978 hit “King Tut”?

Multi-instrumentalist McEuen and Martin became friends as teenagers working at Disneyland’s Magic Shop. McEuen produced The Crow – New Songs for the 5-String Banjo and rounded up an impressive list of guest appearances for the release. Special appearances include Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Mary Black, Tim O’Brien, Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick and Tony Trischka. The album includes 15 original tracks written by Martin, according to Amazon.com.

Here’s what McEuen had to say about Martin’s finger-pickin’ skills:

“This will be lifelong memory highpoint – one of just how far a dream can go. Two kids from Orange County at the Opry! Well, when Steve picks, fans will see how much it means to him to bring his music to the heart of country music. The audience will find out he’s a musician disguised as an actor.”