This story is featured in CityBeat’s May 3 print edition.
It has been 35 years since the Cowboy Junkies changed the indie roots soundscape with the release of their seminal second record, The Trinity Session, in 1988. Amidst the ‘80s focus on synth-pop, hip-hop and electronic music, the Toronto, Ontario-based Junkies recorded a much-heralded set of lo-fi, minimalist Americana in a church as a reaction against the prevalent electro scene of the day. With their rich, somnambulant covers of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and Rodgers/Hart/Timmins’ “Blue Moon Revisited,” the Junkies mined a new dimension of blues, country, folk and pop music.
Junkies’ Margo Timmins describes their debut to the Irish Times last November, “The album is very distinctive, and so when people think of us they think ‘quiet.’ We are still relatively quiet compared to other bands, of course, but we are by no means the same band that made Trinity Session. There is still that element of what we do — acoustic sets and open space songs — but it isn’t all that we are anymore.”
Here it is 2023, and the Junkies are releasing their resonant 18th studio record, Such Ferocious Beauty, this summer during their country-wide tour. This is their first collection of new original music in five years. The three Canadian Timmins siblings, Margo on vocals, Michael on guitar and Peter on drums, with Alan Anton on bass, have long formed the core of the band, and their family dynamic naturally guides their long collaboration. The Cowboy Junkies blend originals and covers from all stages of their career on this tour.
Cowboy Junkies play Memorial Hall at 8 p.m. May 11. Info: memorialhallotr.com.
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This article appears in Apr 19 – May 2, 2023.