Actually Max, Steve Martin has acknowledged the influence of the KT prompting him to take up the banjo for a lot of years. One of the best aspects of that was that Steve never blushed about it or tossed it off as youthful foolishness. His technical skill on the instrument far surpassed that of Guard or Stewart, though we all know that George Grove could stand toe to toe in skill on the instrument with virtually any other banjoist.
The gem for me from this video and several others I watched - Martin went to high school and performed with John McEuen, co-founder of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and another acknowledged master of the instrument (and as I've observed in the past, almost anything else with strings on it).
Steve mentions the KT influence in the latter part of this article from 2010:
https://www.danieldurchholz.com/steve-martin.html
...and in about the 4th paragraph here from 2009:
https://www.npr.org/2009/02/04/100239629/steve-martin-comedian-takes-banjo-seriously
Roots and branche
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