Get Behind the Mule Pivots to the Web

The mission of Get Behind the Mule, Nashville’s annual Christmastime Tom Waits covers bash, is twofold. First, it’s a chance to pay tribute to the legendary gravelly-voiced troubadour alongside fellow fans and admirers from the local music community. Just as important: Raising money to fight hunger ahead of the holidays. 

Named for a choice cut from Waits’ 1999 left-field hit Mule Variations, the inaugural GBM took place in 2006 at The Basement and has been reprised each winter since, scheduled as close as possible to Dec. 7, Waits’ birthday. When founder David Noel — a painter, Basement staffer and Waits superfan — was planning the fourth installment in 2009, he reached out to an acquaintance, artist manager and music-biz vet Mary Sack, about potentially getting her then-client Tommy Womack on board. The two caught up one night on the bench outside the Eighth Avenue club, as they did often when Noel worked the door there. 

“The more I learned about it, the more I realized I had another artist who’d fit very well,” Sack tells the Scene. That was the late David Olney — expert singer and storyteller, Nashville lifer, and friend and collaborator to Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Townes Van Zandt. In January, Olney suffered a fatal heart attack onstage in Florida. He was 71.

“I asked Dave Noel if David Olney could play,” Sack remembers, thinking back to 2009, Olney’s first of many appearances at the annual benefit. “He shrugged and said, ‘Hey, why not?’ It was all very chill.”

Sack has had a hands-on role in every GBM since, working to secure sponsors and curate the bill. The only prerequisite is a familiarity with and appreciation for the strange beauty of Waits’ vast repertoire and idiosyncratic sound — a collision of blues, jazz and vaudeville that challenges conventional notions of “nice” music. 

“It’s as much about theatrics as it is about songs,” she explains. “These artists go out of their way to embody Tom Waits in the presentation as much as possible.” 

GBM moved from The Basement across the river to The 5 Spot in 2011, and Noel is no longer involved on the booking end, but the format has stayed consistent. About a dozen acts cover two or three tunes apiece, with no duplicates. There’s also live painting during the show and a silent auction, with all proceeds benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. The revelry typically gets underway around dinnertime and tends to wind down as late as 2 or 3 a.m. 

This year’s edition, naturally, will feel a bit different. It’ll be happening online Saturday via StageIt on a pay-what-you-can basis. Normally Sack seeks out new blood to complement returning performers, but this time she went with an all-alumni lineup. Players include country- and blues-schooled rock tunesmith Kevin Gordon, bluesman and 5 Spot regular Afton Wolfe, folk-pop songwriter and Alison Krauss protégé Angel Snow, and Womack, billed under the pseudonym “Ewell Variations.” Most sets are pretaped, but a few will be beamed in live via 5 Spot co-owner Todd Sherwood’s multicamera rig. 

It wouldn’t be GBM without live painting; Jeff Bertrand and Billy Martinez have that covered. Their pieces will be auctioned off along with work from other area artists and craftspeople, including metal sculptures courtesy of Keith Herendon and cigar-box guitars from Jonathan James Greiner. The suggested donation is $10, but as with the real-life event, no one will be turned away for lack of funds; the online ticket price is pay-what-you-can. Keeping with another GBM tradition, Cookie Monster — a frequent reference point for Waits’ trademark marble-mouthed vocals — is pictured on the gig poster.

“This is a big anniversary, and we had a shorter window to plan — we’re flying by the seat of our pants at the moment,” Sack says. Still, she never considered canceling. That would’ve been one loss too many in a year that began with Olney’s sudden, shocking death in January and went on to claim the lives of Sack’s mother Edith and 15-year-old dog Miller. 

While there aren’t any direct musical tributes planned for Olney or Justin Townes Earle — another GBM alum lost in 2020 — both musicians’ memories will be honored during the stream. Olney’s go-to cover for the benefit, often incorporated into his own solo sets, was “Clap Hands” from Waits’ 1985 catalog standout Rain Dogs. It’ll be played Saturday by Nashville-residing Australian songwriter-guitarist and WXNA DJ Anne McCue.

“David could take a Tom Waits song and deliver it with very much the same intensity, but would own it in such a way you’d think it was his own,” Sack says of Olney, her client of 15 years. “Not unlike Tom Waits, his songs could be in-your-face — but just as easily melt your heart.”