Seriously—how is this the first time Mark Kozelek has played the late-night circuit? Kozelek has spent a full 20 years releasing the most searingly beautiful songwriting available anywhere under the banner of different project names: Red House Painters, his own name and Sun Kil Moon. He counts Cameron Crowe among his avid fans, and Crowe even cast him in “Almost Famous.” But somehow last night was the first time he’d appeared on TV, promoting Sun Kil Moon’s excellent new record “Among The Leaves.”

As a bonus, he dropped the Red House Painters classic “Mistress” from 1993′s “Rollercoaster” with a little help from The Roots. As Stereogum points out, the rendition is extremely faithful to the the original and absolutely gorgeous. It’s also almost certainly the first time the song has been played by a drummer with a pick stuck in his hair for the duration. 20 years later Kozelek still sounds arresting and The Roots do a great job showing how wide their range is.

The weekend before last Kozelek played Music Hall of Williamsburg and when he opened the floor for requests he was immediately flooded with “Mistress.” He gave the impression this was pretty much a nightly occurrence and eventually he relented. In that spirit we’re putting “Mistress” up top here, followed by “The Moderately Talented Young Woman.”

Image via Stereogum