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Photo Credit: Heather Pollock
For almost twenty years Cowboy Junkies have continued to create a distinctive sound, consistently making music on their own terms. Cowboy Junkies were formed in Toronto in 1985 after guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins and long-time friend and musical partner, bassist Alan Anton, recruited Michael’s sister, singer Margo Timmins and brother, drummer Peter Timmins to join them.
“What I Lost,” the first emphasis track from the new Cowboy Junkies CD, Such Ferocious Beauty reflects on the last several months of the Timmins’ father’s life. The song is a reflection on conversations that Michael had with his father during his battle with dementia, “memories of his flying days as a bush pilot in northern Quebec and his love of jazz and his experiences of seeing the great big-bands of the 50’s would often work their way into our conversations. I would often think about all of those memories and experiences that were slowly being eaten away by the dementia and would eventually completely disappear with his death. Lines like “This is what I lost” and “I can sit here and wait” from “What I Lost” and “Shadows 2” are not so much about him, but about me.”
The full CD, Such Ferocious Beauty will be released on June 2, 2023 on Cooking Vinyl. This is the band’s first release of new material in five years and follows their heralded 2022 collection of covers, Songs of the Recollection. Such Ferocious Beauty is vintage Cowboy Junkies and another dimension from the lo-fi Canadian band. Beauty is a rumination on aging, losing parents, facing mortality and creating space for one’s life in the midst of the ruin that comes from merely living.
