BY JACOB
PAUL NIELSEN
Tom Waits released his legendary 13th studio album, Mule Variations in 1999. This was the same year that gave birth to Napster and saw Ricky Martin releasing his monster hit, "Livin' La Vida Loca," the first number-one single to be recorded and mixed entirely in Pro Tools. That year, Waits would return to Cotati, California, and Prairie Sun Studios (where he had previously recorded his album Bone Machine) to begin Mule Variations. Though the album was "recorded, mixed, and mastered in analog," according to the liner notes, Waits would integrate several digital elements into the recording process. Mule Variations would go on to become a critical and commercial success. As the album garnered Grammy Awards and further critical praise, Tom embarked on an extensive world tour. Not bad for the then 50-year-old Waits; it's no easy feat for a living artist of the classic rock era to be taken seriously by modern day hipsters and tastemakers. Tom Waits, however, stands with the likes of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave as an artist that has remained both commercially viable and creatively fertile well into the later years of his career. In the spring of 2020, Mule Variations' engineers Jacquire King [Tape Op #140, #88, #45] and Oz Fritz [#75], along with Prairie Sun Studios owner Mark "Mooka" Rennick, discussed how the juxtaposition and discomfort of Prairie Sun inspired Waits' landmark album.
