Classic Album Review: Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session
Originally released 1988, Latent Recordings

1. Mining For Gold
2. Misguided Angel
3. Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)
4. I Don't Get It
5. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
6. To Love Is To Bury
7. 200 More Miles
8. Dreaming My Dreams With You
9. Working On A Building
10. Sweet Jane
11. Postcard Blues
12. Walkin' After Midnight

Cowboy Junkies sophomore effort provided them with both their artistic and commercial breakthrough, and took the low-fi, whispered midnight blues of their early years to it's zenith.

The album's unique recording circumstances have been well documented. On November 27th 1987, the band gathered around a single microphone at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity to perform a combination of original songs and covers from (amongst others) the likes of Hank Williams and The Velvet Underground, who's classic 'Sweet Jane' would become one of the Junkies most enduring hits in its new bare-bones form. Michael Timmins' original compositions pack a powerful emotional punch, and are far from dwarfed by such lofty company. Indeed the beautifully sad 'To Love Is To Bury' and concert-favorite 'Misguided Angel' are amongst the album's greatest moments, as is their interpolation of the well-worn 'Blue Moon'.



Cowboy Junkies emerged from Trinity with a unique, haunting, gossamer masterpiece of a record, and the finest roots release of the 1980s.

Both the band's sparse, methodical approach to the material, the awe-inspiring Margo Timmins languid, dreamsome delivery and the brief recording time ensure that there's nothing out of place on 'The Trinity Session'. The project has a raw immediacy and cohesion rarely heard outside of early 1930s and 40s blues recordings and is an essential listen for all roots music fans.

In 2007 the band returned to the Trinity church to revisit the album with guest musicians including Vic Chesnutt and Natalie Merchant. The beautifully shot DVD of this performance also comes highly recommended.