He also started writing songs, some of which wound up on his 1970s comedy albums. "I just wrote them for the heck of it," he says.

A couple of years ago, Trischka asked him to perform one of his compositions, "The Crow," on Trischka's album, "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular." The experience led to a revelation: "I realized I had enough tunes to do a solo album," and he was off, using "The Crow" as the title track.

Most of the cuts are instrumentals, but Parton and Gill sing a duet on the country lilt "Pretty Flowers" and Martin sings the whimsical "Late for School." Some of the songs date back to the late '60s.

Released Jan. 27 as a three-month exclusive through Amazon.com, the record has received much better reviews than Martin's latest movie, "Pink Panther 2," panned by critics.

Martin seems pleased: "I'm used to bad review for movies because people like to attack them, but I'd be sad if the reviews were bad for this album."

Indeed, as he discussed the CD, which will be released to other retailers later in the spring, he was relaxed and revealing. His answers became more clipped when asked about his career or his personal life (At one point, he asked warily whether the article would be about his music).

"It's fresh to me," he said about his music. "When you talk about movies you're really talking about promotion. I think the interviewer is bored, and I'm bored because it's the same old questions. I think it's lost interest for the audience, too. They're not that interested in the back story of how a movie got made."

McEuen, whose Nitty Gritty Dirt Band provided the music to Martin's late '70s routine "King Tut," had this to say of his friend: "The movie business is his business. This is his passion."

"In all the years I've known Steve, I don't recall him acting this excited about anything," added McEuen, who said Martin e-mailed him an hour after the album was available on Amazon.com — at 1 a.m. — to tell him it was at No. 190. "He really has three things in life that he loves: his wife, his banjo and his dog."

Martin said he might put together a band and do a few concerts to support "The Crow," but he doesn't plan a full-blown tour. He's got too much going on for that.

"I've exploited every possible facet of my abilities. Now I just want to continue doing what I'm doing," he said.

___

On the Web:

http://www.stevemartin.com