Steve Martin "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo"

Never mind that he has a new movie (The Pink Panther 2) coming out Friday. All comedian and actor Steve Martin seems to want to talk about these days is his new CD.

His new banjo CD, that is.

Entitled The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, the album is no laughing matter. The comic wrote the majority of the songs on the CD. And, it includes some notables, including Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs, Tim O’Brien, Peter “Doctor Banjo” Wernick, Tony Trischka and Dolly Parton.

It was produced by another acoustic music heavyweight, John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

“I started (playing banjo) when I was 17,” Martin, now 63, told Billboard.com. “I know what my specialty is — playing songs I write, and if I’m asked to step outside that specialty, I can get a little nervous. It’s a dichotomy; on one hand I can play my own songs with anybody, but if I got into a really serious bluegrass crowd, I’d play a couple standards and retire.”

The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo is an Amazon.com exclusive and will be available at the retailer for three months. After that period, the CD will be sold through other outlets.

Martin also told Billboard.com he’s a little shaky at the prospect of performing his songs in front of a live audience.

“I think I would just do a bluegrass festival or something like that,” he said, adding “I guess I have to get a band, right? I wouldn’t even know how to do an hour show of music. I’d have to think about that.”