Ed Helms Brings Bluegrass to L.A. With Jackson Browne and Steve Martin

It turns out Steve Martin isn't the only banjo-playing funnyman. Ed Helms, star of 'The Hangover' and 'The Office,' among many other Hollywood hits, is an aficionado of bluegrass as well. And Helms, who used to play the music back in New York as part of a band called the Lonesome Trio, wants to see the genre he loves in Hollywood, so he's using his influence for good to put on a bluegrass festival, the L.A. Bluegrass Situation, from March 18-22 at hip West Hollywood venue Largo.

"I mentioned this idea to the Largo people to try and stir up some bluegrass in L.A. because there are so many bluegrass festivals and they're so fun. They're such a great community-building event and there's just nothing like that here in L.A.," Helms tells Spinner. "But I know that there are bluegrass fans and I know there's kind of a community waiting to gel."

Bluegrass and L.A. don't seem like a natural fit, but Helms has no doubt the city will share his love for the music. "I just think when people are exposed to it they respond to it," he says of bluegrass. As he also points out though, the fest isn't just bluegrass. "The other thing is you can see from the lineup it's not exclusively bluegrass per se. That's sort of the umbrella and we're proud to make that association."

Yes, using his own celebrity and Largo's immense connections and reputations, the five-day festival has attracted some pretty amazing talent, including Jackson Browne, Steve Martin, John C. Reilly, Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Nickel Creek's Sara and Sean Watkins and maybe some other special guests from the Largo community. Helms, who will host Sunday night's 'The Whiskey Sour Radio Hour,' is looking forward to just hanging with the other musicians.

"There'll be a lot of late-night jamming, I'm thinking," he says. "Largo has a little coffee shop room that's part of the complex and we'll be hanging out playing there after the headline shows each night. It'll just be everyone kind of mixing and matching. It'll be great."

For a schedule of the festival and ticket information, go to the festival's official site.