Cowboy Junkies

The genesis of Cowboy Junkies begins with the dissolution of another band, namely singer and guitarist Michael Timmins and bassist Alan Anton's band Hunger Project. That band came to an end in 1985, but Anton and Timmins still wanted to make music together, so the duo teamed up with Timmins' siblings Margo and Peter in the same year to form a new project that fused country songwriting with a bluesy edge. The band had an abundance of chemistry and so they booked their first concert before even deciding on a name, and as the day drew closer and closer the venue hounded them for something to put on a poster, so spur of the moment, the band decided on Cowboy Junkies. Any band with a name that ludicrous would have to be something special to pull it off, and thankfully, that's exactly what Cowboy Junkies were and still are to this very day.

Rather than going down the established route of signing to a record label, the band decided to form Latent, their own label, in order to release their debut album “Whites Of Earth Now!!” themselves in 1986. The album consisted of eight covers of songs by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Lightnin' Hopkins and only featured one original song from the band entitled “Take Me”, but against all probability, it was still enough to secure the band a major label record deal with RCA, despite the fact that the whole record was recorded on a single microphone. This unusual recording style worked so well for the band that they recorded the entirety of their major label debut “The Trinity Sessions” on a single microphone as well. A risky move, all things considered, but one that paid off immensely when the album became an absolutely enormous hit.

The album was released in 1988, and by the following year it had been certified Platinum in both Canada and the United States. Not bad for an album whose recordings weren't even edited, let alone mixed. Suddenly, the band were one of the hottest acts in the world of indie rock, To this day, they remain one of the most acclaimed acts in alt-country, a band who've collaborated with everyone from Natalie Merchant to Ryan Adams and have a cult following all over the world. For remaining a band that other bands could learn from for over three decades, Cowboy Junkies come highly recommended.