Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Revisited

A return to hallowed ground

Recorded “live” in a Toronto church 20 years ago, The Trinity Sessions remains the benchmark by which all subsequent Cowboy Junkies records are judged. The pin-drop sparseness and subtlety of Margo and Michael Timmins’ calling card also paved the way for countless folk/country acts to experiment with what, to outsiders at least, were often seen as rigid musical forms. The tender frailty of their own compositions nestled cosily alongside radically reworked Hank Williams, Elvis Presley and even Velvet Underground material. Trinity Revisited is an unashamedly no-nonsense reprise of those songs, committed to tape (and now film) in the same church, the group augmented by guests Ryan Adams, Natalie Merchant and Vic Chesnutt, all of whom openly acknowledge a debt to the groundbreaking Canadian band. Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane still astonishes in its stripped-down simplicity, but it’s arguably the Junkies’ own compositions, Misguided Angel and To Love Is To Bury, that have grown in stature, proving the record’s most vital components. Cynics may suggest that this is a carbon copy stopgap of an album, indicating a lack of fresh ideas. The more open-minded, however, may conclude that Cowboy Junkies have every right to pat themselves on the back and celebrate a musical landmark of their own making.

Cooking Vinyl | COOKCD 434

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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