Costello, Lauderdale and gang Sweep the Floor at Letterman

Elvis Costello corralled a few of his musician friends for a jaunty performance of Sulphur to Sugarcane last week on the Late Show with David Letterman. It was all strings for the song from Elvis' new album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (#13 on the Billboard 200 this week...WOW!). Besides Jim Lauderdale (seen here outside the dressing room), a great singer and writer in his on right, the rest of the band was string slinger extraordinaire Larry Campbell and go-to Nashville double bassist Dennis Crouch. Costello sat for an interview with Dave before his performance.

Elvis and the Sugarcanes (musicians from the new album) played a tour de force two and a half hour set last night at the Beacon Theater, only the second show of the tour...I already got a great email from a Costello-watcher saying "Please tell me that somebody captured last night's show for posterity, whether legally or, uh, otherwise. What an incredible band, and what an amazingly perfect choice of back-catalog material to showcase it." The point is: Don't miss this show when it comes your way.