Poor Poor Pitiful Steve Earle

Five years (almost to the day) of Warren Zevon's death, Steve Earle is scheduled to appear on David Letterman's "Late Show" Friday night in a tribute to the late L.A. troubadour.

Earle covered Zevon's "Reconsider Me" -- backed by Austin's Reckless Kelly -- on the 2004 tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich, whose title came from Zevon's last appearance on the Letterman show in October 2002. No word on what song Earle will perform Friday.

In a related note, the current issue of Rolling Stone contains an interview with Letterman. Relevant excerpt:

RS: The show you did with Warren Zevon, when he'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only had months to live: He'd been on many times. Was it a difficult show to do?

DL: Oh, it was awful. Warren was so good about it. After the show, it was heartbreaking -he was in his dressing room, and we were talking and this and that. Here's a guy who had months to live and we're making small talk. And as we're talking, he's taking his guitar strap and hooking it, wrapping it around, then he puts the guitar into the case and he flips the snaps on the case and says, "Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it." And I just started sobbing. He was giving me the guitar that he always used on the show. I felt like, "I can't be in this movie, I didn't get my lines." That was very tough.