Tom Waits [ tickets ] will take the stage at this year's South By Southwest festival in Austin for an extremely rare showcase entitled "A Late Evening With Tom Waits." The concert, set for March 20th at the Paramount Theatre, will be one of the closing night events at the massive music industry gathering.

According to a press statement issued by his publicists, Waits will be backed by three quarters of the backing band on board for March, 1998's ''Dead Man Walking'' benefit show in Los Angeles -- Smokey Hormel on guitar, Larry Taylor on bass and Stephen Hodges on drums (Ralph Carney played horns at the Los Angeles event).

Waits has kept an extremely low profile in music circles in recent years, having released his most recent album, The Black Rider in 1993 and performing his last full tour in late 1987.

Waits' next album, titled Mule Variations, is set for release April 27th on Epitaph Records. In a November interview with MTV News, Waits characterized the new material as ''dirt simple,' revolving around subject matter including trains, rain, redemption, farm animals, insects and freaks -- apparently not a major departure from previous Waits albums.