Saturday Morning Records: #20 — “The Caution Horses” by Cowboy Junkies

A new series for paying subscribers — celebrating favourite albums for the weekend

Oh, but I love the Cowboy Junkies! Saw them in 1999, at that ill-fated Sweetwaters. They were in the middle of a giant field, with a set of flowers and a coffee table on stage, and it felt — suddenly — like they were singing to me in my living room. Mesmerising. Margo Timmins is the voice that tells you everything is okay. She sings with all the heartbreak and resolve of a kitchen sink drama, there’s something so small and mesmerising about the sound of her voice — a warm, controlled whisper. And something so widescreen and perfect about the way it’s set.

I probably first heard the Junkies via the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, that album (and its film) introduced me to a lot of great music. I rushed out to find The Trinity Session, what I assumed, for years, was their debut album — there’s actually one before it, made almost entirely of covers. Anyways, Trinity was the thing for a time, and everyone loved it, and you could introduce people to it — that cover of Sweet Jane so perfect. Who didn’t already love Sweet Jane? And if there was such a person, they were won over immediately when they heard Margo, her brothers, and their neighbourhood chum sing the new version of the song as if a whisper directly into the ear.