Comedy icon Steve Martin is also an accomplished banjo player, and his skills will be on full display on "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo."

Due Jan. 27, the 15-track album is exclusive to Amazon.com for three months. It features vocal contributions from Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Mary Black and Tim O'Brien, as well as instrumental work from Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick and Tony Trischka. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's John McEuen produced.

"I have loved the banjo my whole life," Martin says. "The songs on this record represent the influence of a dozen players and a thousand tunes, and I thank them all. But it's the banjo itself I thank most for generating nostalgia for experiences I never had, joy I was yet to experience and melancholy that was yet to come."