Week 29: Steve Martin & Edie Brickrell
Somehow I only recently heard about Steve Martin and Edie Brickrell’s new musical “Bright Star” that will be premiering. Not only is the play by Steve Martin (who is amazing); but it includes bluegrass (also amazing) and a story line set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (the most amazing). This song is just one of the many thought to be included. Honestly, I’m on the fence about my love for Edie’s vocals, but I love the instrumental. And maybe her voice is an acquired taste. Regardless, I’m enough a fan of the music overall to continue giving it a try.
“Dream gig” is also how Brickell describes phase two of her collaboration with Martin: writing a musical. The pair has written a dozen songs for Bright Star, a theatrical piece set in North Carolina in 1945, which they hope to get workshopped this summer. Brickell believes she and Martin have the rarest thing in show business: chemistry.
“One time, we were listening to a playback of a song, toward the end of the week of recording,” Brickell says. “We were sitting behind the board and the banjo solo came on, and he started dancing in his chair, fingers pointing, eyes squinted, arms flailing, giant smile on his face—it was the ‘wild and crazy guy’ dance. When the banjo stopped and I started singing again, he slumped down in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling like he was bored. We all just fell out, cracking up laughing. It was a great moment. Steve Martin can act like he’s bored by your singing and make you feel special at the same time. Who else does that?” — Brickrell in a great feature on the two in Texas Monthly
actually on the line 