Multi-talented Steve Martin will release his second bluegrass CD, Rare Bird Alert, March 15. Martin will be backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers he toured with last year, and have some special guests. Those guests include Sir Paul McCartney, who was once with a group called The Beatles, and the Dixie Chicks.
“It’s very hard to believe,” Steve told
Pollstar.com, of having the former Beatle perform on the record. “I was a kid when I first heard Paul McCartney, and if you told me one day that he’d be singing one of my tunes, I’m still flabbergasted.”
Following the success of the Grammy Award winning The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, Rare Bird Alert features 13 new Martin-penned tracks, including a live version of King Tut and was produced by Tony Trishka. Paul McCartney and The Dixie Chick make special guest vocal appearances on the album. Martin co-wrote two of the songs with the Steep Canyon Rangers.
When Steve called the Dixie Chicks, they agreed to sing on a song called “You” before they’d even heard it. Steve describes the tune as “very emotional, heartbreaking.”
He tells Pollstar, “I was kind of disappointed because I really wanted them to hear the song first and like it,” he said. “But they did like it and they did a great job.”
Source: GAC, Country Standard Time
