Actor/comedian Steve Martin will present "An Evening of Bluegrass and Banjo" June 13 at the State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Martin released . . . wide acclaim. It was his first full disc of music, with no standup comedy to be found, and it went on to win a Grammy Award for best bluegrass album.

A little more than a month after co-hosting the Academy Awards, actor/comedian  Steve Martin will take to the road with the Steep Canyon Rangers for . . . currently sits at No. 2. Two songs from "The Crow" are part of "Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert," which became available Tuesday (3/2).

Last year’s tour wasn’t enough of a chance for Steve Martin to show off his five-string prowess. The comedian/actor/picker is hitting the road . . . Music Center. Milwaukee is next on the schedule with Martin playing the Pabst Theatre April 20, followed by Kansas City at Midland Theatre April 22.

After Steve Martin co-hosts the Academy Awards this Sunday night with Alec Baldwin, he'll regroup for a few weeks -- and then head out on tour . . . from Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, among others? Anyway, Martin's tour will bring him to the Roberts Orpheum Theater on April 23.

No doubt when comedian Steve Martin walked away with a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album at last month's ceremony, genre traditionalists cried foul. . . . their commitment and passion, but in this niche you have to be able to work a lot to make a living, and we need all of the support we can get.

Wernick played on two songs on Martin's album, "Pretty Flowers" and "Words Unspoken," the latter of which he co-wrote with Martin. "There was . . . at Carnegie Hall last October, a friend of Martin's, singer-songwriter Paul Simon, told him "Words Unspoken" was his favorite song from the show.

The joint artistic talents of Englewood resident Salli Ratts and her friend Greg Carr captured the International Blue Grass Music Association’s . . . said when he showed our first proposal to Steve Martin, he was very excited by the design and said he would use it for the album,” Ratts said.

Steve Martin has spun his wheel of talents again, and this time it has stopped at “author.” Grand Central Publishing said in an e-mail message . . . young readers, “Late for School,” is based on a song that also appears on Mr. Martin’s album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.”

If someone says “banjo,” what comes to mind? Many people may flashback to Deliverance and start looking around for horny rednecks; the relative . . . and takes wing. If that’s all you want from bluegrass, have at it, but Martin and his stellar friends are capable of a hell of a lot more.

When you talk to Steve Martin about his dizzying array of pursuits, it's hard to know where to begin. It's easy, though, to know where to end -- the . . . album of 2009, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo," and a six-week road tour that won him strong reviews for his playing and songwriting.