When Margo Timmins strolled up to the microphone in her low-cut black cocktail dress, wrapped in a scarlet shawl, with a rusty shock of hair draped over one eye a la Veronica Lake, even if you’d never seen Cowboy Junkies before, there was no mistaking her star power at the Villa Montalvo’s Garden Theatre in the summer of ’09. Timmins and two of her brothers, Michael on guitar and Peter on drums, along with bassist Alan Anton, have been doing the slow boil as Cowboy Junkies since 1985. As its name implies, the Toronto-based quartet specializes in quiet, ultra-slow tunes that might sound comforting to strung-out cowpokes hunkered down around a campfire after a long day rounding up stray dogies. Cowboy Junkies will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with Margo.
Michael Timmins: These are the finer things in life. Or, at least, the finer things on the road, where it’s the little things that can define a good day. The late check-in to the hotel is made a little less frustrating when there is a locally owned and run coffee shop down the block that takes pleasure in creating a perfect cup of coffee each and every time. The long wait for soundcheck is made that much more bearable when one stumbles across a small ice-cream parlour that makes its own ice cream. And there is nothing that takes the edge off of a smelly, dank rock club like a tasty, locally brewed IPA. A strong, smooth latte, a cup of banana fudge ripple and a tart, hoppy IPA—yes, it’s the little things that make the mundanity (is that a word?) of life on the road bearable.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFXALoegMR8
