Steve Martin named bluegrass entertainer of the year
(CBS) Steve Martin's banjo skills are no joke, and now he has the bluegrass industry's top award to prove it.
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers took home the Entertainer of the Year award during the 22nd annual International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. Ever the funnyman, Martin joked through his acceptance speech, "I want to thank all the other nominees ... for losing," Martin said.
Though he has toyed with the banjo during his comedic routines, it wasn't until 2009 that Martin got serious about bluegrass. He co-wrote 15 of the 16 songs on his debut album, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo."
Martin then joined the Steep Canyon Rangers during its June 2009 broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" and continued touring with the band throughout the year. In 2011, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers released the critically acclaimed album "Rare Bird Alert." The actor wrote10 of the songs and co-wrote the other three songs that made up the album.
The 66-year-old and the Rangers have taken bluegrass to "The Ellen Show," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and the Capital Mall over the last year.After the awards show, the comedian told the Associated Press, "It really means a lot, sort of like winning two Oscars."
"It's something we work very hard at and I kind of started from scratch. I mean I've been playing banjo for 50 years, but performing in a band I've never done. I've done it for about two years ... You know, the hardest part was talking and tuning."
In other awards, the Boxcars took home four trophies. Three other acts, Michael Cleveland, The Gibson Brothers and a collaborative effort among J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson and Paul Williams, each won two awards.
The IBMA honored Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductees Del McCoury and George Shuffler and host Sam Bush paid tribute to the late Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, who would have turned 100 this month.