Last year was our 15th anniversary; this year . . . our 10th???

Last year Miracle Mule celebrated the 15th anniversary of our very first gig.  But the band had gone through many personnel changes in its early years, and only guitarist Geoff Mack and washboardist Brian Dettor remained from the original 7-Mule lineup.  Then last month singer Sandy Geller celebrated her 10th anniversary with the band, and later this month steel player Charlie Fager celebrates his own 10th Mule-iversary, and now suddenly we’re all about 10th anniversaries.  So what’s the big deal?  Well, the big deal is that after Sandy and Charlie joined the Mules in 2015, a funny thing happened -- the personnel turnover stopped cold and the band finally stabilized and jelled into the Swampy-Tonk powerhouse we are today.  So with Sandy and Charlie’s individual anniversaries, we’re actually celebrating the 10th anniversary of the current 7-person incarnation of the Mules.

Sandy Geller (with Dick Bay, Brian Dettor & Geoff Mack) at her 2nd Mules gig, the 2015 Novato Art & Wine Festival

And to make things even more perfect, we were at the time in need of a new pedal steel and mandolin player, and Sandy happened to be married to one!  So the following month her hubby, Charlie, learned the repertoire and joined us July 25, 2015 at the annual Pope Valley Fire Department picnic for his Miracle Mule debut.  We didn’t let him anywhere near a microphone, but just from hanging out with him between sets, we could tell that he shared his wife’s sense of humor and was the perfect final puzzle piece for the band.

Come October, we’ll still celebrate the band’s 16th anniversary (back at Rancho Nicasio -- yay!), but right now Geoff, Brian, Sandy, Charlie, Dick, Mark and Jimbo are pleased as punch to be celebrating a decade of making music together.  In the immortal words of bassist Marko Petrella, “Mule on!”

Husband & wife, Charlie Fager & Sandy Geller — the newest Mules celebrate their 10th Mule-iversaries

Sandy’s first appearance with the Mules was June 5, 2015 at the Sausalito Cruising Club.  She’d been rehearsing with us for a month and, of course, we knew she could sing, but would she be a good fit for the Mules?  Well, the answer came between two songs in the first set when she stepped up to the microphone and asked, “What do you get when you drop a grand piano down a mine shaft?”  Her fellow Mules looked at each other and scratched their heads till she gave the answer:  “A flat miner.”  For you non-musicians, you’ll just have to trust us that that’s pretty hilarious, and it instantly erased any lingering doubts about whether we had found the perfect singer for the Mules. 

Charlie Fager (far right) going over the set list with bassist Mark Petrella at Charlie’s first Mules gig. [If you’re wondering what Dick, Sandy and Mark’s wife Rhonda are doing on the left, they’re controlling the movement of a large piñata for 30-some kids at the Pope Valley picnic.]