 Known for their sparse arrangements and haunting vocals, the Cowboy Junkies have based their musical style on the belief that less is more. The band was formed in 1985 by guitarist Michael Timmins and bassist Alan Anton. The duo had previously played together in Hunger Project and the British experimental group Germinal before returning home to Toronto. Timmins recruited his brother Peter to play drums and then went looking for a vocalist. He didn't have to look far, quickly convincing his sister Margo to become the voice of the band. The Cowboy Junkies released their debut album, Whites Off Earth Now!, in 1986 on their own Latent label. Showcasing influences like Robert Johnson and Lightnin' Hopkins, the band toured the Southern and Southwestern U.S. in support of the record, in the process soaking up the music of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers. The results manifested in The Trinity Session (1988), the band's second full-length album. Recorded with a single microphone in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity in one 14-hour session, The Trinity Session featured several Cowboy Junkies originals alongside Jennings, Williams and Patsy Cline covers. Most notably was a cover of the Velvet Underground song "Sweet Jane," which received generous airplay on college and commercial radio stations. Before long, the major labels came knocking and the Cowboy Junkies signed with RCA. The band would release three albums on the label before moving to Geffen in 1995. Each record featured the slow rhythms, stripped down productions and quiet, ghostly melodies that are the Junkies' trademark. In 1996, the band released Lay It Down, which featured the modern rock hit "A Common Disaster," and earned the band a gold record. In June 1998 the Cowboy Junkies released Miles From Our Home, produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, The Verve). In contrast to their previous records, the album featured a generally up-tempo feel and a fuller, more polished sound. Soon thereafter, the band lost their contract in the corporate upheaval that followed the 1998 merger of Universal and Polygram. Their next album, Waltz Across America (2000), was issued on the revived Latent Recordings label and sold exclusively through their website. The Cowboy Junkies singed with Rounder Records subsidiary Zoe for their latest album, Open, released in 2001. Joe Hauler
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