070424- Promotional image of the Cowboy Junkies. SUBMITTED PHOTO Heather Pollock.
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of their latest album, Such Ferocious Beauty, Canadian Icons Cowboy Junkies have made Medicine Hat one of the stops along their tour.
With both Calgary and Winnipeg Folk Festival on their list of tour dates, Medicine Hat was a natural addition, said guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins.
“We try to get out to Western Canada whenever we can, every couple of years or so. And we were fortunate that Medicine Hat worked out with the schedule,” said Timmins.
He added that it has been some time since they were last in the city, but they’re looking forward to bringing nearly 40 years of music to the Esplanade on July 25.
Those attending can expect a dual-set performance, with the first set focused primarily on their new work, while the second takes listeners through the decades of their broad discography.
“We really dig into the catalog and try to cover as much as much of the catalog as we can. Obviously it’s a big one, so we try to cover different areas,” said Timmins. “How that works out is that if somebody in the audience knows our material, there’s a good chance that, if not necessarily the exact song that they want us to play, they’ll certainly hear the era.”
The band, which was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2019, has been continuing with the same members since the release of their first album, consisting of siblings Michael, Margo and Peter Timmins, and family friend Alan Anton.
“It’s pretty special,” said Timmins. “Playing live is what most bands are all about, it certainly was back when we formed. And the more you play with the same people, the more sort of that intuition and that connection you get. So it’s pretty special to be able to play with the same people for 40 years.”
While the material changes over the years, especially with as much written as the Cowboy Junkies have with sixteen studio albums and five live albums. Timmins said that the connection they share remains the same and continues to grow, something that audiences can feel at their performances.
Timmins continued on to say that while they aren’t putting out music at the same pace as they did when they were starting out, there has been a lot of enjoyment and inspiration in making sure they’re keeping their music honest and relevant to what they want to write about at the time.
“After 40 years, it takes a little bit longer to gather up new material, to get re-focused on what we want to work on,” said Timmins. “It’s just a matter of keeping it honest and making sure you want to be recording what you’re recording.”
He explained that they largely release new material every four or five years now, which has allowed them to take the time to tour and work on material that is true to what they think and feel at the time.
Timmins invites residents to come out to the show, which still has tickets available on tixx.com, commenting that “if you think you know exactly what you’re going to get, you’re probably wrong.”
He explains that he feels the band is not defined by any one category, though alternative country and folk rock are somewhere to start, and that listeners will be surprised and hopefully delighted by the wide scope of different music the band has produced over the years.
“We feel performing live is at the heart of everything we do. It’s what we’ve been doing the longest and what we put most of our energies into these days,” said Timmins. “So come on down to the show, even if you only know a song or two, see us live and just have a very good night of music.”
