Steve Martin

Yes, it’s that Steve Martin. But no, this isn’t a joke. The Waco-born wild and crazy guy might be best remembered for his arrow-through-the-head-while-strumming-a-banjo routine, but on The Crow, he takes his instrument seriously. Aside from a few up-tempo novelties and vocal numbers with guests like Dolly Parton and Tim O’Brien, this is a mostly instrumental crop of bluegrass that serves to showcase Martin’s formidable chops (alongside some of the finest pickers on the planet, including Tony Trischka and the legendary Earl Scruggs). Over 14 self-penned tracks and one cover, Martin plucks his banjo with bravado, shuffling between frenetic barn burners, mid-tempo ballads and plaintive mountain melodies. He saves the jokes for the liner notes, which proclaim The Crow “the most expensive banjo album in the history of the universe.” They’re almost worth the price of the album alone. If you’re wondering, for example, why Martin never pursued music professionally, he has an answer: “There’s one sentence that's never been said,” he writes, “and that is, ‘Oh, that’s the banjo player’s Porsche.’”