Margo Timmins and the rest of the Cowboy Junkies band casually took to the sparsely decorated stage at Melbourne's Palais Theatre for the final show of their 40th anniversary tour.
The stage was bare but for instruments, a table with a dozen or more white roses, some chairs and a bottomless cup of tea. Margo was all understated elegance in a comfortable and practical black ensemble, plus her now trademark luxurious and elegant mane of white hair (23 November).
They launched straight into 'Misguided Angel' followed by what Lou Reed called his favourite version of 'Sweet Jane', the song that put them on the map. They followed up with three songs from their latest and arguably career-best album, 'Such Ferocious Beauty'.
The first song of the three, the tragic and haunting 'What I Lost' was dedicated to Margo and her brothers' recently departed father, who suffered from Alzheimer's prior to his death. When Margo tells his story, she is warm and engaging and wishing the audience strength and love if they happen to have elders who are similarly afflicted.
During the second set, which opens with 'All That Reckoning', Margo says: "There is an unwritten law that all Canadian bands when on tour must play a Neil Young song," before launching into a stunning version of 'Powderfinger'.
There are several covers through the night including Townes Van Zandt's 'Rake', Bruce's 'State Trooper', and that beautiful twilight ramble 'Walkin’ After Midnight' (Lynn Howard), which they save for their encore.
One of the great perks of being a music writer is showcasing a band you've loved all your life to someone who has never seen their live performance. I took this opportunity to introduce Stan Jarin to them. So here is a review from him as a very appreciative and surprised first-timer to the CJ experience.
All I'd known about the Cowboy Junkies was that I liked them every time I heard them. Like an arrow of gossamer shooting straight to that part of the heart you never dust or keep watered. Every time I heard them, they'd break through my guard, catching me off-centre and stopping me in my tracks.
So I thought I had them pegged. I was fully prepared to enjoy, possibly endure, an evening of melancholy wistfulness, like floating in a warm bath of nymph tears. I was wrong.
These guys are actually astonishingly hardcore. Sure, there's plenty of nymph tears for fans like me but what I didn't expect was a mandolin channelling Jimi Hendrix, psychedelic, extended raga-like raves with the room positively swirling with the incandescent spirit of Michael Bloomfield's 'East-West' while in no way copying.
Just four people playing simple instruments creating majestic soundscapes that sounded like they came from the '60s Elektra Sound Recorders or Abbey Road – with Margo's voice front and centre; and what a powerful and elegant lead instrument that is.
Margo, Peter (drums) and Michael (guitars) are siblings so as a unit, they're tight. Since their second album, they've had Jeff Bird as a multi-instrumentalist and in truth, instrumentally, he is the leader.
Until tonight I had never heard a mandolin play sustained, fuzz-toned or chorus voices like this. His lead breaks are worthy of comparison to Jimi (or whoever else you like). When he switches to lap steel you hear whale-song and planets realigning. He comes on at the start playing masterful harmonica and manages to squeeze in percussion through the set as well.
Peter Timmins on drums is steady as a rock with surprises just when they're needed. I couldn't help but see him as a love-child of Can's Jaki Liebezeit and another guy called Charlie Watts.
Michael Timmins on guitar was perfect, either folksy fingerpicking or launching into what Keith Richards calls 'the ancient art of weaving' with Jeff Bird, switching from Tele to acoustic to whatever else, sometimes with haunting slide. Their psychedelic raga rave was long, constantly exhilarating and constantly building ecstatically.
Holding it all together was the indomitable Margo Timmins, making us feel, really, as if the packed theatre was in her living room or garage, where it all started and that she had invited us over for a cup of tea. But that voice! It is a mighty weapon being used for good.
This was not the Cowboy Junkies I was expecting. It was like Clark Kent ripping open his shirt to reveal previously unexpected superpowers. Little wonder, really, once one does some belated research. Among those who influenced founding members Michael Timmins and bassist Alan Anton were jazz musicians Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane, along with the sound of early blues musicians Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson.
Seeing and hearing the Cowboy Junkies in concert makes all those pieces fall into place.
- written by Karen Conrad & Stan Jarin