Canadian outfit Cowboy Junkies made a stop at the Kent Stage last night in support of their new album, Such Ferocious Beauty.
Formed in Toronto in 1985, the foursome consists of siblings Margo Timmons (lead vocals), and brothers Peter and Michael on the skins and guitar, respectively. Bass duties have been taken care of by family friend Alan Anton. A rarity in the music business, this foursome has been together since day one, recording sixteen studio albums and several live LPs as well. Journeyman musician Jeff Bird has been featured on every album since the band’s early days and is the official unofficial fifth member of the quartet.
Perhaps best known for their sophomore effort, 1989’s Trinity Session, that collection of songs brought them critical acclaim and announced their bluesy, Country-Folk/Alt Rock sound to the ears of early ’90s audiences.
Last night’s nearly-sold out show had the band introduce last year’s release, Such Ferocious Beauty, to the Northeast Ohio crowd. Frontwoman Margo quipped that “Our albums have been described as ‘melancholy,’ but this new album is truly depressing.”
The recent pandemic seems to have weighed heavily on the band, as many of the tunes from this release were created in an almost-hermetically sealed environment near Toronto in a rented barn where brother Michael wrote most of the songs. The Timmons family lost their father recently to dementia, and the tune “What I Lost” is a heartbreaking window into the horrors of that disease.
Playing two separate sets with a fifteen-minute intermission, the first set of seven songs leaned heavily into the new album, with an early-set offering of one of their most popular tunes, a cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane.”
“Blue Guitar,” an early second-set tune, was re-arranged with drum fills reminiscent of John Densmore’s late ’60s work in The Doors. The extended guitar work by Michael also invoked Robby Krieger. While the comparison may seem coincidental, I don’t think that was the case; their mashup of genres has always made the band tough to pigeonhole.
Bird’s harmonica, mandolin, and dobro mastery added a lot of depth to the show; it’s amazing how those instruments can provide a layer of depth that would be sorely missing if it were just the quartet and a simple percussion, lead guitar and bass setup.
“Blue Moon Revisited,” the Rodgers and Hart standard, got a dusting off and revamped with a new polish, finishing up their eighteen-song set, which was followed by a two-tune encore. “Walking After Midnight” was a haunting, jazzy rendition of the Patsy Cline tune.
