The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Cowboy Junkies still playing breathless music after 30 years
FAIRFIELD — Can it really have been 30 years since the Cowboy Junkies released The Trinity Session, that beautiful, uncluttered, pristine recording made in a Toronto church?
You bet it has — and it still sounds great!
More importantly, THEY still sound great — and the band, one of the best cultural contributions ever to come out of Toronto, still performs with all the original members: siblings Margo, Michael and Peter Timmins on vocals, guitar and drums, respectively, and Alan Anton on bass.
They’ll be local on Thursday, performing at Fairfield Theatre Company’s The Warehouse at 8 p.m. Only standing-room tickets remained at last look, so you’d best get on it. Tickets, $48 if there are any left, are (were) available at fairfieldtheatre.org or by calling 203-259-1036. The Warehouse is at 70 Sanford St., next to the Fairfield Metro-North station.
The Trinity Session, recorded in 1987 at Toronto’s Church of the Holy Trinity — and featuring, along with their original music, covers of The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” Rodgers & Hart’s/Elvis’ “Blue Moon” and Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight” — captured the then-young band in all its acoustic dynamics.
It was celebrated from the time it came out as one of the best popular music albums of that era, blending elements of blues, country, folk, rock and jazz. The Los Angeles Times named it one of the 10 best albums of 1988.
And while none of the Cowboy Junkies’ subsequent albums drew nearly as much attention outside of Canada, they have a dedicated following and have continued to put out albums and tour North America, Europe, Japan and Australia in the years since.
In 2008, they released Trinity Revisited — a rerecording of The Trinity Session featuring guests Ryan Adams, Vic Chesnutt, Natalie Merchant and Jeff Bird — to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original recording.
The Cowboy Junkies came together in Toronto in 1985 following the dissolution of Michael Timmins’ and Alan Anton’s earlier band, Hunger Project. It was nominated for Group of the Year at the Juno Awards — Canada’s equivalent of The Grammys — in 1990-91.