I joked on Twitter the other day that if you had told me in the 1980s that I would be listening to a bluegrass album by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell I would have thought you were nuts. This was in fact precipitated by the fact that I was doing just that thanks to NPR Music’s First Listen of their upcoming album Love Has Come Around, which is due out on April 23.

It’s no secret that Steve Martin is big into the banjo and bluegrass music these days. In fact he would probably smack me for calling this album bluegrass because it doesn’t conform to the strict rules of bluegrass, but I am not a bluegrass purist nor aficionado but rather someone who is trying to give you an idea of what you would be getting while listening to this album. So let’s go with bluegrass-inspired album just to appease Steve, shall we.

In addition to the music and vocals by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell respectively the album also features guest performances from renowned guitarist Waddy Wachtel, Sarah and Sean Watkins (who you already know I love, see here and here), Esperanza Spalding, and bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers, who Steve Martin has collaborated with in the past.

I’ve listened to the album multiple times already and am in love with it. I very much look forward to listening to it many more times once I own a copy next week.

I’m now trying to decide if I want to make the trek down to Wolf Trap to see them in concert on June 24, which is a Monday night. The drive from Baltimore is killer on weeknights, which is why I normally avoid any non-weekend concerts at Wolf Trap. However I think this would be the perfect concert to see there and Wolf Trap is my favorite outdoor concert venue. The fact that I searched for a blog entry on it and came up empty means I haven’t seen a concert there since I started writing this blog and that is a crime. I’ll have to mull it over some more.

Unfortunately I can’t find any online links to songs from the album that aren’t first listen kinds of things that will be pulled when the album is released next week, so enjoy this interview with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell featuring some of the music from the album instead.