Steve Martin returned to The Tonight Show more than 50 years after making his debut on the long-running late-night program in 1972 (back when Johnny Carson was the host), but he wasn’t there to tell jokes. Rather, the multitalented polymath appeared with fellow banjo virtuoso Alison Brown to perform a song from their debut collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane.
The duo brought along two rising bluegrass stars, mandolin maven Sierra Hull, who contributed to the album, and fiddle phenom Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. Together with Brown’s husband Garry West on bass and Michael Daves on guitar, they performed “Let’s Get Out of Here”, an instrumental track off Martin and Brown’s new album. Hull and Keith-Hynes, who each lead their own band, took turns in the spotlight, stepping up to the mic placed center stage to showcase their bluegrass brilliance.
Brown previously connected with Hull when they joined forces in 2018 to form The First Ladies of Bluegrass supergroup with Missy Reigns, Becky Butler, and Bronwyn’s former Golden Highway bandleader, Molly Tuttle. More recently, they collaborated on Brown’s 2023 album, On Banjo, including on the tracks “Foggy Morning Breaking”, which also featured Steve Martin, and the classical-inspired “chamber-grass” duet “Sweet Sixteenths”.
Released earlier this month via Brown and West’s Compass Records, Safe, Sensible and Sane debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart. The album marks Martin and Brown’s first full-length release, following “Foggy Morning Breaking” and their 2024 single “Bluegrass Radio”, which also featured newgrass pioneer Sam Bush. The tracklist includes collaborations with Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, the Indigo Girls, Tim O’Brien, Jason Mraz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, and the all-female bluegrass group Della Mae, with additional contributions from Bush, Tuttle, Hull, and Stuart Duncan.
Watch Steve Martin and Alison Brown perform “Let’s Get Out of Here”, off their new album Safe, Sensible and Sane, with Sierra Hull and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below. For more on the album, head here.
Steve Martin & Alison Brown With Sierra Hull & Bronwyn Keith-Heins – “Let’s Get Out Of Here”