Dave Bowler

We played the Cowboy Junkies in our bookstores for many years. This nearly 600-page book looks at the members of the band, the music itself, their many influences, and so much more about where they’ve toured and gone musically. The author became a friend of the group over the sixteen years that he was researching and writing the book all the way through to 2019.

My surreal experience with this book was very unique, as it became an intense project that had me awake for almost three days and nights straight. I was not just reading the fascinating text, but for almost every one of the hundreds of songs mentioned, I was finding them online and listening. I’ve never done anything like this before, and it made me aware of how much I had missed with their music. Their catalog of albums and songs is much broader and varied than I ever suspected. I ended the project in an altered state (a very apt description) that used perseverance, exhaustion, delirium, and a touch of beer to complete.

Most music lovers will remember the group for their late 1980s breakout album The Trinity Sessions, and their luscious cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Sweet Jane.’ Most all of their music seems dark and brooding, with a heavy dose of melancholy, but so many times the band members would mention that they saw it as leaving listeners with hope. The group’s singer, Margo, seems to cast a spell on the listeners, they hear the darkness of her brother and the group’s main songwriter Mike’s words, but the quiet beauty of her voice tempers the bleak message and stories of many of the songs.

“This ain't no depression, just notes falling slowly.”

“Loneliness becomes an expectation.”

Toward the book’s ending, one of the members says, "Welcome to the world of self-delusion" and then there are some William Blake quotes. There’s such an intelligence and a grace to this book.

The book has a vast wealth of facts and a constant flow of quotes from the Junkies themselves, as well as the Junkies' junkies. It’s a deep dive into music, family (three of the four band members are siblings), the constant-changing music industry, politics, independence, philosophy, and just how they have lasted so long as a tight group.

I will return to this review and flesh it out, but right now I’m going to catch some sleep.… (more)