Bob Dylan will be the last musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight (CBS, 11:35 PM). Tommorrow night's Late Show, Dave's last, has no announced guests. Appropriately, Dave goes out with a legend musically, and the guests on these last few weeks of shows reflected his love of Americana music.
Dave's late night shows have, in some ways, reflected my own changing musical tastes over the years. On NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, he was the new kid on the block and got the college bands that no one else was getting or maybe that no one wanted. When Dave switched to CBS and 11:35 PM, it was during my days on commercial rock radio and the grunge/alternative explosion, so the bands were bigger, at least commerically, and now that Dave was an institution, he could get just about any band his show wanted. In the last 10 years, I've discovered alt-country and Americana and Dave's show reflected that, giving lesser known bands from those genres a showcase alongside the big acts. And now, at last, he gets not only one of the biggest names in rock history and someone who doesn't do much TV but also someone who absorbs and reflects the American music of the last 100 years. Can't go out better than that.
Also, as part of coming full circle, Dave's last guest will also be his first guest. Bill Murray appeared on the very first Late Night with David Letterman and will be on the show tonight.
Here's Bob at Woodstock '94:
And here's Tom Waits on the Late Show last week:
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