After you’ve made your mark in comedy, what do you do for an encore? Apparently make serious music. That’s the case with Christopher Guest who best known for his roles in This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind. NPR has a story about his serious musician chops as a member of The Beyman Bros, where he plays guitar and mandolin, mandolin cello, and even the clarinet. It’s kinda new age-y free form instrumentals that I would expect to hear at a spa or yoga class. But it’s first class stuff.
Not to be outdone is the serious musical expertise of Steve Martin. He is considered the foremost expert in bluegrass banjo playing. The NY Times article mentions “Mr. Martin is regarded as a master of a difficult five-fingered playing style known as clawhammer or frailing, in which the instrument’s strings are pushed down by fingernails, rather than pulled up with picks.” Amazon is selling his banjo music album “The Crow” and on Youtube there are plenty of examples of his skills, but I love this early example of his banjo playing.