On Thursday evening, Carnegie Hall will hold a well-deserved tribute concert for the great Bill Withers. Lean on Him will feature covers from the likes of Michael McDonald, Sheryl Crow, D’Angelo, and Ed Sheeran, who shows up here with his child-like face and fire-red hair. To give people a taste of what to expect (and to continue his streak of infectious covers), Sheeran stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform a cover of the Withers classic “Ain’t No Sunshine,” with some help from the very fresh Late Show band with Jon Batiste and Stay Human.
And to give some background behind the entire event, Withers and Sheeran shared a joint interview with Colbert to talk music and those interesting personal details. It’s here we learn about Withers’ love of curmudgeon TV judges and how Sheeran “went from a ginger to a ginger snap.”
