Get Behind a Mule: Tom Waits Tribute at The Basement

Tom Waits’ new album, Glitter and Doom, came out last month; it was his first live record since 1988, and critics praised Waits’ storytelling, emotionally affecting delivery, hilarious audience interaction and gleeful showmanship. Those of us who’ve never seen Waits live might wish we had been there. But why feel deprived? This is Nashville! Don’t we have our own tough-but-tender, hard-luck, gravel-voiced, blues-pirate, bottom-of-a-bottle troubadours right down the street? Of course we do, and they’re just as qualified to tell tales of barflies and back-alley drifters as the man himself. The almost ridiculously overstuffed bill includes (among others) Bria Dowsa Belly Dance, David Olney with Sergio Webb and Jack Irwin, Ballhog, Otis Gibbs, Afton Wolfe, Wess Floyd, The Coal Men, Tommy Womack, Joshua Black Wilkins, Korean Is Asian and Chris Crofton interpreting the Waits canon. Proceeds benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.
Sat., Dec. 12, 9 p.m., 2009