Quick, Before It Melts.

I've been undertaking a personal project at home that has me storing a lossless digital copy of all my CDs on a hard drive. Why? because I'm a geek, and also because it's an exhaustive collection that doesn't get listened to as often as it should. There's been no rhyme or reason to how I've gone about starting this task, but last week, I spent a fair bit of time revisiting my Cowboy Junkies collection.

Since time immemorial (which goes back to when I was 14) I have been in love with Margo Timmins. Not so much in love with her as much as in love with her voice. I will never forget the first time I heard the Junkies version of "Sweet Jane": it was the most haunting song, and the sexiest all at once. I actually consider it one of the hallmarks of my musical coming-of-age. It not only introduced me to the music scene on Toronto's Queen Street West, but it was also the point where I decided Lou Reed was cool and not an old geezer.

Today, November 27, marks the twentieth anniversary of the recording of The Trinity Session, the Cowboy Junkies second album, and arguably, their finest moment. The story has been told a hundred times but it's so good it's worth repeating: in (almost) one night, around one microphone, the band set up a makeshift studio inside the Church of the Holy Trinity in the middle of downtown Toronto and laid down some tracks--14 of which made their way onto the resulting album, named after the recording's location. Grand total for the night's work: $621.00... including pizza.

From God's ears to the public's wallet, The Trinity Session went on to earn them a high of 26 on Billboard's album charts ("Sweet Jane" reached 5 on the singles chart), a spot on Saturday Night Live, and Gold album sales status, and a place in my heart for all time. A few years later I was a gushing fool when I met Margo Timmins in person as she sang "O Canada" before the start of a Welland Pirates baseball game, stammering about how much I loved listening to her voice, how much I loved the band and the music--you know, basically sounding like a foolish fan. She just smiled, that shy, coy smile of hers, said "Thank you very much, that's very kind of you" and signed my copy of Black Eyed Man.

So be sure to celebrate The Trinity Session today by going out and finding yourself a copy of the gorgeous Trinity Revisited CD/DVD, which features an anniversary performance of the album in it's entirety in the shrine of it's birth, featuring guest performers Natalie Merchant, Ryan Adams, and Vic Chestnut.

Cowboy Junkies "Sweet Jane"

Cowboy Junkies "Misguided Angel"

~ from the album The Trinity Session, 1987 (Latent)