Comedian Steve Martin next month will make his debut on a new type of stage for the well-known television and movie star, plucking his banjo at country music's Grand Ole Opry.
Martin, a veteran of TV shows like "Saturday Night Live and films such as the recent "Pink Panther 2," has long been a banjo player.
He even incorporated the instrument into his stand-up comedy act as he rose to stardom in the 1970s.
But only last month Martin released his first music CD, a bluegrass album called "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo," which he will perform at country music's premiere venue on May 30, in Nashville.
Martin began playing banjo at age 17, and recently joked with reporters in New York that early in his career he opened a Manhattan night club picking away at the instrument but nobody turned out.
On the second night he agreed to play for free, and when the club was empty again, the owner fired him.
"I thought if I don't do it now, my fingers might slow down or I might forget the songs," the 63-year-old Martin said about making "The Crow" with 15 original songs.
