We posted yesterday afternoon about Hot Rize performing during and after Steve Martin’s “surprise” wedding ceremony at his home in Los Angeles on July 28. As we might have suspected, Pete Wernick (Dr. Banjo) was in the thick of the preparations, owing to his friendship and banjo connection with Martin.

Pete provided this overview of how it all went down.

It wasn’t exactly a surprise wedding. It was planned months ahead, but due to Steve’s celebrity, he was concerned about paparazzi disrupting things, and asked that it not be discussed at all in advance, as word about such things tends to travel fast.

In brief, Steve got in touch with me some months ago about providing music for the wedding (at his home in Beverly Hills). I asked if he wanted me to get some musicians from the area, or just “whoever I want.” He said to get whoever I want. When I asked, what would you think of having Hot Rize, he said, “I’d kill for Hot Rize.” Thank goodness that wasn’t necessary. Bryan Sutton, who generally plays guitar with us, was not available, so we got David Grier, who did just fine of course.

Steve and his wife Anne gave a lot of thought to the music they wanted, and they took my suggestion to use Romance Is a Slow Dance, a great song of Tim’s, to begin the ceremony. Then Tim fiddled a beautiful Irish air as the bride and her father came forward. The ceremony, performed by “Reverend” Bob Kerrey (former U.S. Senator), was followed by a rousing banjo tune.

Steve had indicated that if Hot Rize was there, “it would be a sin” not to have us do a mini-set for the guests. He added, “as in, I would go to hell.” So following dinner, Steve introduced us and we did five songs including Blue Night, High on a Mountain, and a song I wrote for Steve and Anne, This is Our Time. For the last two tunes, we were joined by Steve on banjo, and played Steve’s tune The Crow and finished with Foggy Mt. Breakdown. We were very well received, with the guests applauding for solos and many nice comments afterwards. In attendance were such notables as Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Carl Reiner, Eugene Levy, and Martin Mull. Steve and Martin both participated in the jamming that went on into the night.

Steve arranged that all guests receive a copy of the band’s So Long of a Journey CD as a party favor. As they filtered out and the party wound down, we continued to play informally, with Steve and Anne asking for one more rendition of Romance Is a Slow Dance.

The next morning we headed for LAX, and I made it all the way to Elkins, WV for Bluegrass Week at the Augusta Heritage program, which is where I’m writing this from!

In closing, I’ll say it is truly an honor for Hot Rize to be appreciated in such a high class way by such a respected figure of American culture as Steve Martin. People ask me what sort of person he is, and I can say in all honesty that he is one fine gentleman, with the wonderful quality of showing interest in other people and making them feel appreciated. Almost impossible to fathom that, given his irreverent style of humor, but it’s true. I also am often asked about whether Steve might do one thing or another for “the bluegrass cause,” and I can only say time will tell. Naturally if he has any desire to do that, I will be glad to facilitate!

Some of you may have caught Don Rigsby’s appearance last night on the ABC-TV reality series Six Degrees of Separation. The concept behind the series is that anyone is only six steps away from contacting anyone else on the planet. Last night’s show featured Martina McBride as the celebrity the contestants were supposed to approach. The winner would receive a recording contract in Nashville, and the opportunity to perform on stage with McBride.

One of the contestants had a friend who led him to Sandy Knipp, a radio DJ in Morehead, KY. Knipp hosts Bluegrass Diversions, a weekly bluegrass radio show on WMKY-FM, 90.3. Knipp led the contestant to Rigsby, who took them to Nashville.

The episode just aired last night, and hasn’t yet appeared online. There is a short clip available on the series website that gives you just a glimpse of Rigsby. You can watch that video here.

When Hollywood stars and friends of comedian (and banjo player) Steve Martin accepted his invitation to a dinner party at his Los Angeles home on July 28, no one was expecting anything other than some good music, and good times together.

When the guests arrived – including film luminaries like Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy and Carl Reiner – they realized that they were actually to be the guests at Martin’s surprise wedding to Anne Stringfield, his girlfriend of the past three years.

A reunited Hot Rize was on hand to provide the bluegrass music, with original members Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick and Nick Forster joined by David Grier on guitar. They not only entertained after the wedding dinner, but also provided the music for the ceremony itself.

O’Brien sang his song Romance Is A Slow Dance to start the ceremony, and played the traditional Irish air, Sheebeg and Sheemore on fiddle for the processional. Wernick played a jaunty version of Cripple Creek on the banjo as the newlyweds recessed.

After dinner, Martin introduced Hot Rize for a short set, during which he joined them on stage with his banjo, performing his tune The Crow, and a double banjo version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Congratulations to the happy couple. A marriage consecrated by bluegrass music is bound to take, yes?