Liberty Opens For Steve Martin

I returned to Aspen, with very little concern about what might be next for the band and for myself.  However, I wasn’t surprised that a couple of weeks later Steve Martin and his manager, Bill McEuen, came to hear us at The Red Onion in Aspen.  They decided that we would be a good opening act for Steve.  

Mr. Natural…

Once again, I felt myself readying to ride that magical wave.  Early in January 1976, we joined Steve at the Boarding House in San Francisco for two weeks.  The format of that show was the same as the shows with John Denver; we did a set, Steve did his comedy act, and then we came back out and played several bluegrass tunes together.  His considerable musical proficiency is much better known these days, but I’m sure it surprised his fans back then.

One association had wound down, and another was gearing up.  Steve Martin and Bill McEuen had a different point of view than John and his team.  The tone this time was set, or at least expressed, by Steve’s crazy antics on stage and by the happy-go-lucky group persona of Bill’s other proteges, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  Their careers were serious endeavors, of course, but their attitudes were not, and we fit right in.  And the San Francisco Bay area, where most of our performances with Steve took place, seemed perfect for that brand of entertainment.

The first time I met Steve Martin was at a party in Aspen. In my memory he is rather shy. I found remarkable the transformation that took place when he got on stage. I’d never before seen that phenomenon, where someone goes from reserved and somewhat apart to dancing around with his banjo strapped on and a hat made of balloon animals or an arrow through his head. Steve was very good to us, and the association with him was great fun. He came to trust us to be consistent onstage and to prepare his crowd with our music and a bit of our own zaniness.