Michael’s quest to make the NHL before he turns 60 took a significant hit this month when he slid in to the boards and broke his wrist. It also put a significant dent in our touring plans for January and February. We’re sorry to let you know that the February Blowin’ and Driftin’ Tour that was to take place across Ontario has been postponed until October. You can find the new dates on the Tour Page. All tickets will be honoured for those shows. If you have specific ticket questions please contact the venue. Sorry about the hassle…
Back in 2003, in the dead of winter, we headed out on a small theater tour of Southern Ontario. The weather was miserable, but the spirit in the venues was magical. As the tour gathered steam, so did the small caravan of cars that decided to follow us from gig to gig. The tour became known as Blowin’ And Driftin’ 2003. It was a memorable run for both the audience and the band.
In February, fifteen years after the first Blowin’ and Driftin’ Tour, we’re heading back out on those same highways and to many of those same venues. Over the course of two weekends (from Feb 1 to 10) we’ll be playing shows in Guelph, Kingston, Ottawa, Markham, Burlington and Milton – Blowin’ and Driftin’ 2018. The band is playing great these days, Margo is singing better than ever, we’re inspired by the material we’ve recorded for our new album coming in 2018 and we’re having more and more fun reaching deep into our catalog and playing those familiar and not so familiar songs….one thing we can guarantee is that the set list will be different each night.
Below is a small taste of what you might hear…..a rollicking version of “Good Friday” recorded at one of our Latent Lounge concerts in Toronto this past March. All concert and ticket info can be found on the Tour Page. We hope to see some of you out there…dress warm!
Due to construction delays, Cowboy Junkies show at City Winery Boston on November 2nd will now take place at Regent Theatre Arlington. We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause. Ticket holders will be notified via email, and guests will be given the option of keeping their tickets and attending the show on November 2nd at The Regent Theatre or receiving a refund (store credit or in full).
The good news is that the Regent is larger than the City Winery so there are now more tickets available for the Boston show!
A very sad day up here in Canada as we process the news of the death of Gord Downie. Gord was the front man and lyricist for The Tragically Hip, one of the best live bands to ever emerge from this country. His lyrics contained a complexity, fragility and beauty that often worked in joyful juxtaposition to his bands hard-rocking exterior. He was a songwriter who set the bar high for many of us; he was a willing collaborator; a grand experimentalist; and a loving dad. He will be missed by many, but especially and fiercely by a precious few.
Here is our version of The Tragically Hip’s, “Little Bones”.
We are heading West next week to some of our favourite Big Sky country. If you are looking for a last minute road trip check out our Tour Page and point yourself in our direction.
In the meantime here is another blast from the Latent Lounge with Andy Maize of the Skydiggers helping us out on Vic Chesnutt‘s Ladle.
Please make sure to subscribe to our Latent Recordings You Tube channel so that you won’t miss the videos that we will be posting over the next several months
Last week at the Latent Lounge a number of Latent artists covered songs off of The Trinity Session. Pete and Mike sat in on a few of the songs, it was an amazing night. We have been and will continue to be posting songs from all four Latent Lounges so make sure to subscribe to the Latent Recordings YouTube channel.
We had an amazing time at the third installment of Latent Lounge last night, celebrating the release of Jerry Leger‘s new album Nonsense and Heartache as well as the songs of The Trinity Session. We will be posting some videos of the night in a day or so on our Cowboy Junkies Facebook page and on the Latent Recordings Facebook page (please Like them if you haven’t already). But in the meantime you can check out all of the videos that we have posted so far on the Latent Recordings YouTube channel. Here is David Bowie’s Five Years from last weeks Dead Heroes cover set.
You can also still access the live stream of the complete 2nd night of Latent Lounge which includes our performance of 4 new songs. Click here and follow the links.
We are excited to announce Latent Lounge a concert series that will take place at Monarch Tavern in downtown Toronto on March 22, March 29, April 5 and April 12. Each evening will consist of three sets of music; a headlining set ( LeE HARVeY OsMOND, Cowboy Junkies, Jerry Leger & The Situation and Skydiggers); a middle set (Thompson Wilson, HarpAcash & the Morals, Ivy Mairi and Jerry Leger) and an opening set devoted to various Latent artists covering songs based along a theme. On March 22 we will be taking on “The Songs Of Lou Reed” (Cowboy Junkies plan to perform at least two new Lou Reed covers); on March 29 the opening set will be made up of cover songs written by “Dead Heroes” (expect to hear songs by Prince, Joe Strummer, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, etc); on April 5 the theme will be “Latent covers songs from Trinity Session” (no doubt some of us Junkies will help out on a couple of songs); and on April 12 we will all be saluting some of our favourite Canadian songwriters and songs in a set called “Canadiana”. Here is the complete lineup for each night and ticket links. You can buy each show individually or all four shows. We hope to see a lot of you there. https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1438381…
We grew up in the same town, Montreal. And even though his age placed him more in my parents generation, he defined the youthful energy of Montreal in the 60’s and 70’s: respectfully contrary, with one foot in the old world and one in the new, sophisticated and urbane. This modest, gracious Jewish gentleman whose poems and songs tried to work through the paradoxes, the beautiful victories and the terrible defeats of life and love, taught us what it was to be cool.
He came backstage after one of our shows in LA in the late 80’s with the most strikingly beautiful woman on his arm. The next day at our show, somewhere down the coast, two dozen yellow roses showed up with a note; “Thank you for your music and hospitality – Leonard”. Many years later he sat in the first balcony at Massey Hall where, along with our peers and contemporaries, we saluted him in song. But my favourite memory takes place outside a concert hall in Vancouver after he had just been inducted in to the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame. My wife and I were trying to hail a cab. Beside us was a dapper looking older man (he would have been close to my current age) standing alone, waiting for a cab or his car. It was Leonard Cohen. I went up to him and introduced myself. He held my hand for an extra beat and slowly intoned, “cooool band”. So long Leonard, you taught us well.
We are heading to Ste Catherines this week for a show at the brand new First Ontario, Performing Arts Centre , so if you are looking for an early start to your weekend please come and join us. Next week we head south to Nashville, Atlanta and Athens, Georgia for a series of dates. In Athens we’ll be putting together a couple of sets of music that will focus on Lay It Down (we recorded the album in Athens back in 1996) and Demons (this is our album of Vic Chesnutt songs, who called Athens home). It will be a fun week of music…we hope to see some of you out there.
