It's hard to imagine Steve Earle covering Townes Van Zandt being on any late night music show other than Letterman. Could you really see Jimmy Fallon or Jay Leno having Earle on? Letterman's stage is the only venue for this kind of performance; Earle performs "Colorado Girl" acoustic with no side players. Letterman prefaces the performance with a succinct biography of Van Zandt (he says he was an interesting fellow and led a bit of a tortured life), and ends with an offer for someone to buy Earle's album with a rug thrown in.

Earle's Van Zandt cover album, Townes, is out now. [Culture Bully]