Expect a new LP from that 'wild & crazy guy' Steve Martin. Martin points out that his new album, "The Crow: New Songs For the Five-String Banjo," falls under the heading: "I'm not getting any younger..."
That led the actor/comedian/author/musician to work in earnest on "The Crow," which comes out Jan. 27 as a three-month Amazon.com exclusive and features 15 original Martin compositions recorded with guests such as Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Mary Black, Earl Scruggs, Tony Trischka, Tim O'Brien and Pete Wrenick. It was produced by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's John McEuen, a high school friend of Martin's."I started (playing banjo) when I was 17," Martin explained to Billboard.com. "I know what my specialty is -- playing songs I write, and if I'm asked to step outside that specialty, I can get a little nervous. It's a dichotomy; on one hand I can play my own songs with anybody, but if I got into a really serious bluegrass crowd, I'd play a couple standards and retire."
Martin says five of the songs on "The Crow" -- named after a track he wrote and performed on Trischka's "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular" in 2007 -- date back to the late '60s and early '70s, while others are more recent. "Tin Roof" came along while he was filming 2003's "Cheaper By the Dozen," while "Pretty Flowers" was conceived while filming 2006's "The Pink Panther" in Boston.
"I had these songs," Martin says, "and I was up to speed 'cause I sort of got back into the banjo in the last three years. And I thought 'Now it's time...'"
Martin is planning a number of TV appearances to promote "The Crow" -- including hosting "Saturday Night Live" on Jan. 30 -- as well as his new starring role in "The Pink Panther 2," which opens Feb. 6. As for actual touring, he says that "if I do it'll be in the summer," after he wraps another role in an as-yet-untitled Nancy Myers-directed adult romantic comedy with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.
"I think I would just do a bluegrass festival or something like that," Martin says. "The word (about the album) isn't even out yet, and I don't even know what I'd do. I guess I have to get a band, right? I wouldn't even know how to do an hour show of music. I'd have to think about that."
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Bruce Springsteen Busy Prepping 'Darkness' Reissue
Bruce Springsteen is all set to release a new album and play in the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show, but there is another project in the works that will be received joyously by fans: a deluxe reissue of 1978's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" that will be similar to Columbia's 2005 30th-anniversary boxed set treatment of "Born to Run."
The "Darkness" package "would involve remastering that record, doing the kind of super-creative reconstruction and documentary of how it all came about and finding usable live footage from that point in time," Springsteen manager Jon Landau tells Billboard. "That's a big one, and not that far from completion, and when we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will."
Born to Run" included a Grammy-winning documentary about its creation and a 1975 concert from London. It was a huge hit with fans, debuting at No. 18 on The Billboard 200 with first-week sales of more than 53,000 copies.
Additionally, the 'Boss' played at the party for the new president and Springsteen and the E Street Band will return to the road this summer, with a handful of European stadium dates having been announced so far.
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RAVAGE Taps ED REPKA For New Album Cover
Boston, Massachusetts-based metallers RAVAGE have tapped legendary metal cover artist Ed Repka to create the cover for their forthcoming full-length album, "The End Of Tomorrow". The band is thrilled to be working with Repka, who is well known for the striking metal cover art he has created for such icons as MEGADETH, MISFITS, and DEATH. Additional sleeve art will be provided by Matt Anderson, who completed artwork on the band's previous EPs.
Commented vocalist Al Ravage: "It's amazing to be working with Ed, whose art I have enjoyed since I was a little kid. Just from the preliminary sketches I can tell this is going to be exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to go all out and have the best possible presentation for this album and give the most possible value to our fans — this is just the beginning, there is more to come!"
A release date for the album will be announced shortly.
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JT to the Rescue
James Taylor came to the rescue of a New York City fan who had to give up her iPod filled with the singer's songs to a taxi cab driver. Natalie Lenhart, 20, had to give up her iPod after the driver could not get her taxi credit card to work in his reader. Taylor read of the situation and sent her a brand new iPod with all of his music.
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Stand By Me
Pete Townshend publically thanked Roger Daltrey for standing by him when he was facing alegations of child pornography.
"Roger bravely stood by me when I really couldn't speak for myself. He took a chance, as did Jerry Hall and some other people who spoke up for me. They made their public statements of belief in me several months before it was established there was no evidence against me."
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Reba Sets Country Record
"Cowgirls Don't Cry" by Brooks & Dunn and featuring Reba McEntire jumped from #13 to #9 on the country singles chart and, in doing so, sets two chart records.
The single is Reba's 56th top ten hit, passing Dolly Parton as the female vocalist with the most top tens. It's also Brooks & Dunn's 41st top ten, putting them past Alabama for the most top tens by a duo or group.
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Aretha Claus
Aretha Franklin came prepared to the inauguration of Barack Obama bearing gifts. For the new President, she brought seventeen sermons that were written by her late father along with her father's biography and a personally engraved bible. For the first lady, she brought a gold brooch with diamonds and her 15-year-old grandson brought gospel/Christian hip-hop music for the girls.
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New Arkon LP Due In May
Experimental folk group Akron/Family (now a trio) has announced that a new album, Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free, will be released on Dead Oceans on May 5.
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New Stinking Lizaveta LP
Prog/math rockers Stinking Lizaveta have a new album, Sacrifice and Bliss, that will be released on March 31.
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Dark Meat Concert Dates
Long-form psychedelic collective Dark Meat, with its 17 members, has announced a string of concert dates that cover the West and the South. The group also has a pair of new 7" records for sale; one is a split with Long Legged Woman.
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Mastodon Single
Mastodon will debut a new track (”Divinations”) from its upcoming album, Crack the Skye, on next week’s installment of the BBC Radio 1’s “Rock Show.”
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Jazzy Tortoise
In an interview with Billboard, bassist Doug McCombs shared details on the upcoming album from jazzy post-rock instrumentalists Tortoise — its first full album of original material since 2004. Still untitled, the album will be released April 21 on Thrill Jockey and feature layers of synthesizers as well as “unconventional drumming and percussion.”
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Think Fast!
Hardcore label Think Fast! Records have announced that starting mid-2009, they will stop producing CD releases altogether and focus on digital and vinyl releases only. They explained:
Think Fast! Records is here to tell you, that the music technology that we know as CDs is, in 2009, borderline obsolete. [...] Releases in mid-2009 and onward will be available on vinyl and digital download formats only, with an instant free digital download with all vinyl purchases.
With this shift in the industry, we were tossing around the idea of turning into a "digital-only label". While we admire anyone who was forward-thinking enough to do just that, we also feel that it is very important to the artists we work with and the people who listen to these bands to not lose sight of the importance of holding a physical copy of a record in our hands. The artwork, lyrics, and substance of the physical product is essential.
The label has previously released albums from The Distance, Between the Wars, Have Heart, Ambitions, Far from Finished, Smartbomb, Wait in Vain and No Harm Done.
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Albatross LP
The An Albatross Family Album, one of my favorite releases from 2008, is now available on (white) vinyl from the Eyeball Records.
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