tavis: tonight aonversation withiconic comedian, aor, writer, and musician steve martin. after becominone of the biggest supersrs in the 1970's, he achieved success in some different areas including an actor, playwright, d as a mician. his latest project is aew cd devoted to his love o the banjo. the disk is called "the crow". we're glad you joined us f conversion. >> ere are so ma things that walmart is looking fward to doing, like helping people live

betterut we are loing forward to building stronger communities and anship. success is yet to come. nationwide insurancproudly supportsavis smiley. tav and nationwide insurance. wking to improve financial literacy and the ecomic empowerment at comes with it. >> nationwide is on your sid >> and by contritions to your pbstation by viewers like you. thank you. pbstation by viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the national captioni institute --wwwcicap.org-- tavi we're honored toelcome steve main. the iconic comian has achieved souch suess in a career tha includes best-

selling books and plays and e distinction hosting show cald "surday night live." we will focus on his musi specifically the banjo. the new cd is "the crow"an he will be making his debut at the grand old opry honored to hav y. >> nice to be here. tas: before we started, [unintelligle] was on my radio show and he s a wonderful cumentary out. about the banjo. >> the banj oginated in africa as -- iearned this from e documentary. it is a feign looking thing. it is played similar, it has a short string like the ve- stringanjo.

i w doing a show last-- week. they introduceme aand the introduction said the banjo is believed to be an american strument but it was invented over 40 years ago in ancient egypt. which explains w the jews left egypt. tavis: he is funny. when started telling me the backtory when i w the documenta, most of this thing bluegrass aucountry music. ouo not think arica but i was so fascinated to learn about this instrument. >>imakes a lot of sens that the banjo came over on slave ships, i suose. it was -- it lay dormant and morphed in the early 19th century. it bame whait is.

thisround thing with the calfskin h and strings. aot of enrtainers started pying it on stage. it is a joyfulnstrument. it caught on and was played in appalachia. and e backwoods. had its own time to nurture an developed a special sound that it has. >tavis: youot turned on to this instrument w? >> it wathe 1960's. i was a teenager and i lived in orange coun. the folk music craze had started. there was the kingston trio and pete seeger. a lot of tat came through ange county. i fe in lveith the banjo. i could not believe it. iatched them play. it was like wahing a mystery. i bought a book, how to play the fi-string banjo. andan instrumentalist taughme

some things. took a 33 rpm records of banjo songs and slow them down and lowered the attuningo would be note for note. so you arn the song that way. >tavis: youre self-taught. i guess so. tavis: you never took formal ssons. >> i nev did. the farthest i got was in the boo here is the way your fingers roll and you merize that. and you start combining them. as time goes on to become more relaxed. t is scary f someone who is an actoro put out a music record. it the -- it could be the heightf embarrassment. theorst alb covers in history are celebriti. i ve my album covers. tavis: explain what tis album cover is. >> itas submitted asç design --

as aesign. it is one o the pastiche amusing covershat i fell in le with. they even -- to look in the upper rightand corner. there is a slight error to my head. tavis: to your point the potential embarrassment that an actor or anyone else who s not known a a musician. the potential emrrassment that oncan suffer for putting o a rrible project. w did you get or tt enough to andpon pbs with this oject? >> at some pnt youave to believe in it. over four years -- 40 yearsago and the st were in the last six years. i played on earl scruggs' album

about eight or nine years a. it is ironic, it w a group efrt. we played "foggy mountain breakdown." because i was part of theroup, we l won grammys. my grammy says best countr western instrumealist. anyone who was a performaner says, wat? iprcticed enougho know and in plain -- i had played another album. this became a hit. i wasncouraged in that way. tavis: i'm always fascinated, i had an artist on my program. i am amazed how a artistrites a song that ts for so lo, in

your case fourecadesbeforet gets recorded. even stranr -- i hav recorded somon the back of book, the record did in 1979 because ias out of comedy material. i had no more and i was athe end of mytand up career in my owhead. i recorded them on he back of this comedy abum. some of tm had been recorded before. theres one song on therthat i had just the melody f fo 40 years. bluegrass songare constructed th an aart. i had this medy for this. another ce up with the b par tas: we will come back to this musia few times in the crse

of the conveation. in 1979, you id you were out of cody material. what does that feelike and how does a cedian, especially given the success you had in the 1970's, how does one decidethat he or she is out of comedy material? >> i w stand up. psyclogically, i was finished. i took it as far as i could take it. it was going to be very redundant if i kept going for me. fortunately, did this movie called he jerk" and became a hit. someone said something to me ce, stand-up -- they go from day to day and youave to keep woing and be out there. if yre an actor you cannot do something fothree years and people stillemember who you e what you are.

it ilike you neverent away and i liked that ia. >tavis: how did u discover that acting was the role -- the go? >> it was the comedy. i became an actor which was burned ile you learn. ithose movs i got a chae to work with somegreat direors who taught me about actingnd i'm morphed into becoming an actor. -- morphed into beming an actor. tavis: i was doing smeeading. swhen you were younger, you were pursuing your dreams a following whatou wanted to do. as your care is unfoldingou are still going to hool. >> i went to ucla. tavis: what were you -- i love

the love of lrning. >> i wat -- the hi schls in orange cnty, there was no hework. it was something you d during thday. it was aobligatory council meeting wh a counselor. he said will youo to college andaid i do not know. he saidt will be good in your career because you are intested in show busess if he studied histo. it madsense to me. you have thes references. you know about things did not want to be a guy who grew up in show business wanted to have collegia background. is tis your nest -- is this necessary for yourown intellince? you cannot do comedy witho having -- i want to usehe wd intelligence, buan education. me people ve street smarts.

did not have that. i learned a l from college. tavis: youid not develop street smarts working at disneyland? >> i did not. tavis: i think that, the new hool year, the enrollment wil go up signicantly. >> they know there is n hallmark. tavis: if i had know that i wld have gone there. at any poi in your reer, did you p this thing down or have you always kept it? >> i always kept playing. the might have been times wn i did not play i for x or eight months, if i was traveling d i did not want to carry it with me. i started ting it with me everywre i went. through the years i cumulated aouple banjos so i put one in every room. the living room and broom, the

faily room. ilways cld pick it up. i cannot imagine what a hole there wld be in my life thout having t banjo around. tavis: this is in your trail on locati? >> yes. i learned a lot o songs waiting around for a movie to start and i have fortten themhen the moviis over. tavis: would you mind picking that up? you ve a few of these. you told the story about this partular banjo. i want to have you demonstrate what this is. >> this is a1927 gibson. they used to py these on stage in the 1920's and ey were four-stringed banjos.

i cannot play because it is not in theright tinning. there were showpieces. it was the only instrument ld enough to get over the sou of thorchestra. they were ve popular. they we made with four strings most -- all the five-stringed banjos you have wereoriginally a four-strings. it is still -- and has a beautiful tone. you hear how low they are. i have a friend who is a banjo teacher. he takes the banjo from the student and goes like ts. see how loud it is? be careful. tavis: it would be hard to steal this. it has youname here. >> that will not stop it from being stolen.

tavis: tell me about this. >> there are o styles of banjo playing. that is three finger. it is attributed to t artist earl scrubbs. i am in differe ning. i will do a three-fure style. this the tle album "the ow". this is the three fings style. ♪ this is the three fings style. ♪ you c hear that in a lotf

bluegrass. theame song -- >tavis: do ha to wear three of hem to do this? you do not ar picks in the different style. youlay with the bacof your fingeail. the same song wouldsound like this. ♪ you get thedea.

that was c modal. i will play scruggs style. th is mething youill he on a blueass record. that is a sale played in this three figure ste of "ggy mounta breakdown." athr-finger yle. tavis:hen you heathis instrument, e sound that you canreate with it. what turns you on about this sound? what do you like about it? >> it is atrange thing. th is what got me into the of banjo is it sod. it can b quiteelancholy.

suprisingly. i am tryingo think about something -- ♪ it has allowed some kind of thng going for i there is a high energthing. it is quite veatile in a limit way. tavis: i want to go back tohe cd. what is on the ? mhat did you cose to pu on there? >> there ardoll parton, mary bld tim o'brien,, the great blue dressing. therwere some songs that i wrotes instrumentals. me of these - i sat downnd

give it a go. igot vince gill and dolly parton to sing. "threelowers", it is called. it is thrilling when you ha eat artists like them sger music and know theare not singing ibecause it ismade but beuse they actually like it. tavis: what do you me of your work songwriter? >> i tnk theongs -- i do not want to brag. i thinkhe songsare new for the five-stng banjo. i like most that they a melodic. a lot of banjo pying can be extremely fast and extmely shy away. extremely complicad. i wanted to ing it back to the o melodies i grew uwith. >>taviswho is the

audience in 2009? >>bsolutely no o. there is a huge country -- this is a different kindof music han that. for tritional music or end -- in-amplified musi it is a full audience and bluegrass. there are ftivals. you go t aluegrass festival and there a 25,000 people therbut they do not make news. theare not covered by t media. not like a rock conce. tas: do you play these thgs? >> noteally. i greup going to fiddle coests in california. there are banjond fiddle contests and everything -- there is a market, i is an esoteric

market. "o brother, where art thou" sold 7 million copies. tavis: we will play some ftage for you, an appeance steve martin made thether night that you ferenced earlier. this wayour firstime. >> playing in publidoing more than on or two songs. iplay in my sta-up act but i have never done a music show. i was ted to get my feet wet d see what it w like. it might be something interesting to do but i do not want t charg people money. this is for chari i i am not ready r a period tavis: what did you make of te experience? >> i likedt and i got a gd eeling. i did not prepare anyomedy but i was kind of jking around so that was fun. tavis: are you ready to charge

now? >>a you there yet will youake my money? >> i fou an old concert ticket of mine fromhe 1970' that was $10. i am stunned to hear that tickets are 1. call i have to do is sell one tiet. vis: you could command that the exrience of having done this has convined do -- i do nowanto color the question. the experience of playing has convinced you ofhat, if anying? >> that music -- playing sic can ba joy. my whole life i reayplayed alone. that night i had a band with me, esteve cany range. they played with me ad back me

up. you can make music witthe band and its not just lik doing standup comedy alone. it i a smooer feeling. an easier feeng. >>hertavis: here is a ridiculous question. you solutely have to give up acting,r the banjo, what goes if you had to give it up you cold onlydo one of these things, whichre you giving up? how stupid a queson is that? >> it is not as stupid aone i d the other day. i would say i would have toive p the banjo. beause i enjoy comedy much and i love comedy. has afforded me so muchbut i he that would never hapn.

you need both. the interior and exteor. this is an interr and acting in comedy isxterior. tavis: ve nicely done. the new cd, the first cd playino is called "erow". just as wonderful a just as advertis. nice to have you onheprogram. thanks for briing your ste. that is our show for tnight. you can cah me on the weekends on pri or our website. i will leave you wh some of steve marn'sperformance at a l.a.ublic library. thanks for watcng and a always, keep the faith. ♪ always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more inrmation,

role in the latest installment of the terminor. >> there is summong things that lmart is looking forward

to doing, likhelping peop live better, but mosy we are ooking forward to bringing -- buildi strong cmmunities and retionships. >> nationwide insurance prouy supports tavismiley. tavis andationwide insurance. working to improve financl literacy and t economic empoweent that comes with it. >> nationwide is on yo side. >> and by ntributions to your pbs station by viewers likyou. thank you. pbs station by viewers likyou. thank you. >> ware pbs. >> ware pbs.

ed mapp gr up going to the mies. i think back on my cldhood and remember how importt movies were to me. at thatime, it was the only wato see the outside world. ed decid to be a professor - an expert on the impact the media. today u have television. people he at least one tv set inheir home. whatever messages cong on that screen is being extended to the eire family. now that'awesome. it can baffecting our country anculture for years to come. that's o of the reasons why puic televisn is so important, because it does assume that responsibili. ed includ his public television stion in his will. consid joining the community people who want public television to spa generations.