Banjo picker Steve Martin, left, and singer Edie Brickell bring their bluegrass partnership to Les Schwab Amphitheater tonight in Bend. You're pretty much straight up crazy pants to miss this opportunity to see one of the most fascinating and enduring talents of the past 40 years.

A while back, Edie Brickell broached the subject of possibly writing a song with Steve Martin.

“It was at a party, and I complimented Steve on how great a musician he is,” she said in a recent telephone interview with GO! Magazine.

“I’d seen that he collaborated with others, and I said, ‘If you ever wanted to write a song with me, I would love it.’ So I was just amazed that he actually called the next week with a banjo tune for me to hear. I was thrilled.”

She never thought it would lead to an album and touring.

“It’s just dreamy that it continued from there,” she said.

“Neither of us ever imagined where this thing was going,” Martin added. “I must say for me, and I think for Edie, it’s really led to some wonderful things in both our lives.”

Along with being among the funniest stand-up comics ever, a first-rate film actor and author of several acclaimed books, endlessly fascinating entertainer Steve Martin can also pluck the hell out of a banjo.

Fans of his arena-scale stand-up performances of the late 1970s and early ’80s — and recordings of those shows on albums like “Let’s Get Small” and “A Wild and Crazy Guy” — knew he was adept with a banjo from “Grandmother’s Song” and other tunes he played in his act.

Nevertheless, Martin surprised everyone, even longtime fans, when he released the 2009 bluegrass album “The Crow,” which won a Grammy award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010.

Further proof that his onstage banjo picking had been no mere comic prop — and “The Crow” no short segue — Martin teamed up with the Steep Canyon Rangers, a bluegrass group from Brevard, N.C., and released another critically lauded album, 2011’s “Rare Bird Alert.”

And earlier this year, Martin took the bluegrass fork of his lengthy career still another step, forming a duo with singer-songwriter Brickell for the album “Love Has Come for You,” which brings together Martin’s banjo chops and Brickell’s down-home Texan lilt.

The two spoke to GO! last week about the fruitful collaboration that led to the 13-song album and their tour, which brings them to Les Schwab Amphitheater tonight (see “If you go,” Page 3).

Martin said he first met Brickell — the wife of famed folk singer Paul Simon — about 20 years ago, not long after she proved she had a way with a lyric on the hits “What I Am” and “Circle,” recorded with her band, New Bohemians.

Martin — who won an Emmy in 1969 for his writing on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” — has been playing the banjo longer than he’s been in show business, having first picked it up in his teens.

Asked what initially drew him to the instrument, Martin dryly replied, “Its sound.”

But it was really the ukulele that brought him to the banjo.

“I don’t have a musical background or anything, and I think I picked up the ukulele because I wanted to be a rock star — not a rock star, but form a group or something like that,” he said. “I just remembered that the other day, actually. I couldn’t really figure (the ukulele) out. I didn’t know what a chord was. I couldn’t really figure out how to tune it. There was no instruction, and I knew it wasn’t a guitar.

“So when I heard the banjo, I just thought ‘I’ve got to learn that,’” Martin said. “I just loved it. And I persevered, somehow.”

One listen to “Love has Come for You” provides ample confirmation of that. Paired with Martin’s confident picking, Brickell’s sweetly tuneful voice could warm the chilliest gray day as she sings, “The sun is gonna shine again,” on the simple tune “Sun’s Gonna Shine.”

There are a number of other standout songs on the album, among them “Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby,” based on a 1902 incident in which a baby survived being thrown from a train. There are also songs about a dog (“Get Along Stray Dog”) and one that’s sort of about a cat (“Siamese Cat”), although it’s more about a man with a seriously spoiled daughter: “I like your Siamese cat / I like your cowboy hat / But I don’t like your daughter / She’s just so spoilt and mean.”

Martin said he came back to the banjo seriously about 10 years ago.

“I’d been away from it as a professional for maybe 15 or 20 years,” he said. In the interim, “the level of musicianship had risen so high it was shocking to me. What defined a good player in the ’70s had completely changed in 2003.”

All too many of the crack musicians he met “were still paying off their banjos with monthly payments,” he said. So, in 2010, he created the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, an annual award of $50,000. “I thought some recognition with an award linked to some money would bring attention to people.”

Martin promises a fun evening for those headed to Les Schwab Amphitheater tonight.

As billed, “It’s a mixture of music and comedy, with the Steep Canyon Rangers, whom I’ve toured with about four years,” he said. “We’ve toured all summer with Edie, and we’ve integrated her and our music into the show.

“It’s proven to be a really fun evening for the audience, and never a dull moment. It’s a show we love to perform. There’s a lot of laughs and a lot of great music. We seem to be received well wherever we play. I don’t want to brag too much, but it’s an enjoyable evening,” Martin continued.

“People can Google our reviews online,” he said. “There’s actually not much reviewing going on anymore, though.”

Brickell chimed in with all the review anyone should need.

“It’s the best show I’ve ever seen,” she said. “Steve makes every night really special, and tons of fun. Every show has been fireworks. The audience leaves so happy, howling and satisfied.”

Brickell knows — from seeing him perform firsthand night after night — the special place Martin occupies in our culture.

“I feel so lucky to witness it, to be in the show. (To) witness that, and to watch him and listen to him and that band, is a real honor,” she said. “Because you just don’t see much like (this) out there these days, or any days, in any decade. (If one watches) film footage of some of the greats from the ’40s all the way through, Steve is one of those icons. And it’s a special show.”

If you go

What: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers with special guest Edie Brickell

When: 6 tonight, gates open at 5 p.m.

Where: Les Schwab Amphitheater, 344 S.W. Shevlin Hixon Drive, Bend

Cost: $44-$85, plus fees, available at the website below or The Ticket Mill (541-318-5457)

Contact: www.bendconcerts.com