[MUSIC/Alt-Country ~ USA]
Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Wed 8 Feb, 2023.
Tonight, after thirty years and several reschedules due to that whole ‘global situation’, The Cowboy Junkies have finally made it to Australia and delivered a performance that was sublime, unexpected and unforgettable.
Given the, ‘Well… let’s go with ‘vintage’ of much of the audience (i.e., my age) it is a sit-down show for many. Formed in Toronto, Canada in 1986, The Cowboy Junkies became a much-loved pillar of the alt-country world. The original members are the same people who played on that first record sliding into forty years ago (helps if three of you are siblings) and when you’ve been playing together for close to four decades, some of what happens is chemistry, and some of it is just pure magic.
Unusual to start quite so early (7pm) and to open with your most well-known song… but what a song! Their cover of The Velvet Underground’s Sweet Jane was a perfect cover. It got them and The Trinity Sessions album it appeared on, into a legion of ears and hearts. Some people are still trying to get in the doors, and those who turned up fashionably late, were doubtless kicking themselves later in the night.
A career spanning set which reached back to their debut album Whites Off Earth Now in 1986 right up to this year’s Songs Of The Recollection. Never shy of making a cover their own tonight we are treated (and I use that word deliberately) to fragile and wonderous versions of artists like Waylon Jennings (Dreaming My Dreams Of You), Vic Chestnut (Supernatural), Neil Young (Powderfinger), Towns Van Zandt (Rake), Rolling Stones (No Expectations) and David Bowie. Their take on Bowie’s Five Years was an emotional high point of the night. Margo Timmins has such a special voice and the band Michael Timmins (guitar), Alan Anton (bass), Peter Timmins (drums) and Jeff Bird (mandolin, harmonica, percussion – and a touring member since The Trinity Sessions in 1987).
Along with their own songs like All That Reckoning, Just Want To See, My Little Basquiat, Cause Cheap Is How I Feel, the whole evening has a calm that you don’t often get. Often the pace is a strolling blues, the songs have room to breathe, to rise like a baking loaf of particularly delicious bread. Intoxicating and immersive.
They finish up with Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis) and a wonderful Walking After Midnight (Lynne Howard but made famous by Patsy Cline)
In two sets and over two hours we were wrapped up in this glorious gentle, warm blanket of sound. It’s like a two-hour musical hug with some wonderful old friends. There’s no histrionics, no pyro, no explosions. But what there is remains a remarkable group of musicians, remarkable songs and a magical night.
A splendid night, and well worth the wait.
4.5 stars
Ian Bell
SETLIST:
Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground cover) – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
Just Want To See – Lay It Low (1996)
No Expectations (Stones cover) – Songs Of The Recollection (2022)
All That Reckoning – All That Reckoning (2018)
Missing Children – All That Reckoning (2018)
Shining Moon (Shining Hopkins cover) – Whites Off Earth Now (1986)
Five Years (Bowie cover) – Songs Of The Recollection (2022)
My Little Basquiat – At The End Of Paths Taken (2006)
Cause Cheap Is How I Feel – The Caution Horses (1990)
Dreaming My Dreams Of You (Waylon Jennings cover) – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
Working On A Building – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
Black Eyed Man – Black Eyed Man (1992)
Supernatural (Vic Chestnut cover) – Demons – The Nomad Series Vol 2 (2011)
Powderfinger (Neil Young) – The Caution Horses (1990)
Rake (Towns Van Zandt) – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
A Common Disaster – Lay It Low (1996)
Misguided Angel – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis) – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
Walking After Midnight – The Trinity Sessions (1987)
