Yeah, but the Response Was

Gary Mule Deer is an oddball country-comedy institution, a performer who blends deadpan stand-up with classic country music while looking like a startled Johnny Cash. On his 1998 audio release Yeah, But the Response Was, he brings his metronomic timing and acoustic guitar to a set of stories, strange tangents, and musical tributes.

Released as a 47-minute album by Uproar Entertainment, the recording captures Mule Deer decades into a career that included sharing the stage with Willie Nelson, serving as the comedy host of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, and becoming a staple of the Grand Ole Opry. The musical centerpieces of the set are two tracks dedicated to the Man in Black: “Tribute to Johnny Cash,” which constructs a narrative entirely from Cash song titles, and “Dear John,” a track Mule Deer wrote for Cash and waited fifteen years for him to record before finally doing it himself. Other tracks like “Church Bulletins Rev. Mule Deer” and “Sioux Medicine Man & the Pope” showcase a style that bounces between folksy observation and dry absurdity.