First music interview in more than 10 years

Well, it's been a while since I last talked to a professional recording/touring musician for an article, but I feel like I picked right up where I left off.

I talked with Michael Timmins earlier today. For those of you who've never heard of him, he has written some of our generation's greatest quiet (and some outright loud) songs with the Cowboy Junkies. You can read the interview in about a month in the Newburyport Current - and I'll add a link when it goes live about a week before their show in Newburyport, Mass., on April 3.

I've been a big fan of the Junkies ever since first hearing their take on Robert Johnson's "Me And The Devil Blues" on the soundtrack to "Pump Up The Volume." They had something that I, as about a 15-year-old, probably couldn't define at the time but later came to know as "atmosphere." They use the space between notes better than most other bands fill measures.

The Junkies are one of the more "mature" bands I suppose you can say. As I pointed out to Michael, they're one of the most well-behaved bands I've known - no drug busts, no obscenity-laced tirades in the press. "We put all our energy and passion in the music," he said. Wow - a musician who cares about what they do so much that drugs, drink and screwing around just don't register with them. For some, they might say 'What fun is that? Where's the rock'n'roll?' I say 'Fine, go stick with your Amy Winehouse or Pete Doherty and leave those of us who just like a certain string of notes and rhythm together alone.'"

It's probably their well-behaved nature that's kept them out of the mainstream press for all these 25 years they've really considered themselves a band. They were the right band in the wrong time - in the 1970s, or 1960s, these guys were touring with the Band or Clapton or one of Timmins' favorites, Lou Reed and were well-respected - but alas, they were born in an age where synthesizers (something that's never polluted a Cowboy Junkies record) ruled the airwaves.

In 1993, they came out with their album Pale Sun Crescent Moon, one of my all-time favorites. "Hunted" is a rocker about the disturbing subject of rape and sexual abuse - the tension in the music is apt. "Hard to Explain" is one of my favorite bluesier tunes, and there are tons to choose from - the blues lined their first album Whites Off Earth Now! and still is a welcome security blanket for their sound. "Anniversary Song" has some of my favorite Timmins lyrics - "Have you ever satisfied a gut feeling to follow a dry dirt road that's beckoning you to the heart of a shimmering summer's day?" Yes - yes, I have.

The opener "Crescent Moon" brings that classic atmosphere - the bass walking by, spouting out elder wisdom, echoing guitars, Pete Timmins playing his set quietly with mallets (I'm guessing), letting his toms sound like daunting footsteps from the floor above. And that voice - Margo Timmins' voice, to anyone whose heard it, is instantly recognizable. It sneaks under your skin, and you almost hear it before it comes - throaty, experienced but never raspy - honey-smooth but dark as a Guinness.

And, they end it with a paean to their southern blues gods - "Floorboard Blues." Michael's acoustic guitar sounding more omnipresent and authoritative with just a couple notes than most metal bands with whole verses. Margo in the character of the young, wisened girl who's just learned how sleazy some guys can definitely be - "I don't like the way his pinky ring picks up the dashboard light, or the short little pig fingers or the way his belt is cinched too tight." Then, like a cry of the moon comes Jeff Bird's late-night howling harmonica.

So, yeah, it's like a good album and stuff. Seriously, though, Michael and I had a great little musical conversation about what goes into the Cowboy Junkies. OK - some sneak peaks:

The Junkies unique sound: "It's a very natural and organic sound. From playing in our garage and figuring out how we wanted to approach things, that sound started to develop. No matter what we do, there's always an underlying feel of the Cowboy Junkies. It's not like we say 'We can't do that because it doesn't sound like Cowboy Junkies,' but there's a certain vibe that we all enjoy playing and we sound really good when we play."

About writing songs, especially in a woman's point of view: "If the song is honest enough and stripped down to the emotional bare essentials, which is what I think a song should be, whether it's a woman's or a man's point of view, it should be basically the same. When you get right down to the bare bones of things, it's a human emotion as opposed to a male or female."

About bringing back some old songs from Whites Off Earth Now! to play in concert: "We've been opening most shows with 'Crossroads,' which we hadn't played in 15, 20 years. And 'Shining Moon' comes back into the set. I think we played that in 2005, maybe. But it's a fun song to play."

For the rest, you'll just have to wait. Enough for tonight - I'm out.

Hey folks, just helping my "old friend" Neko Case (i.e. she doesn't know who the hell I am) by posting her song for a free download - "People Got a Lotta Nerve." For every blog post of the song, $5 will go to the Best Friends Animal Society, which seeks to find homes for abandoned animals. Good work, Neko, and can't wait for the new album in March!

http://www.anti.com/media/download/708

Happy New Year!

Yes, it was a very happy new year, for me and maybe 15,000 of my closest friends at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve night. Many of the attendees for My Morning Jacket's "Black Tie Blowout" got the memo to dress to the nines for the night. The band played their part, wearing suits early on, or at least shirts and ties, before breaking out the white tuxes as 2009 dawned on the New York City part of the world.

Click on the photo seen here for a slideshow of shots from my wife, Nicole Goodhue Boyd (Canon G9 from maybe a football field and a half away).

The show was terrific, lived up to its billing. Never thought I'd find myself clapping at a cover of "Islands in the Stream," so that was a surprise - I was introduced to Nicole Atkins, a Jersey girl who dueted with Jim James on that song in the second set and on Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By," a song that this world is barely good enough for.

The covers, which also included "Express Yourself" (the original by Charles Wright, later sampled to great effect for the "cover" by NWA), Dion's "The Wanderer" (with horns) and the midnight tune, Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" were really the only surprises.

Their originals setlist really didn't carry any surprises - I expected a "greatest hits" of sorts to basically seal up their first 10 years of existence and that's what they gave (though none came from their debut The Tennessee Fire).

Some of the bests that I've heard: "Dondante," "Phone Went West," "Dancehalls" (with horns), "Thank You Too."

All in all, a great night. I'll be back later this week, once I dig myself out of some work, with my top picks of 2008.

Happy listening to the show on archive.org! Thanks to Scott Bernstein, the taper of this show, and all tapers everywhere, and all bands that allow the taping of their shows! Support them by buying their studio stuff and making sure no one's selling the concert taped stuff.

Again, Happy New Year!