Think of “The Trinity Session,” the second album released by The Cowboy Junkies, as the perfect storm of music.
Recorded in one 14-hour session at Toronto?s Church of the Holy Trinity, the album sold more than 1.5 million copies internationally. The 1988 release included original material as well as a cover version of The Velvet Underground?s “Sweet Jane.”
A recent remake of that album, in the same venue and staged the same as the earlier recording, was filmed and is slated for a fall release on DVD.
“We did the ?Trinity Session Revisited,? ” said bass player Alan Anton, longtime friend of the three Timmins siblings who make up the rest of the Toronto-born band. “We had Natalie Merchant and other guest artists on this.”
Redoing the album made sense, Anton said, because of the popularity it still enjoys. Yet the band strove to make the songs a bit different on the new DVD by bringing in guest artists and giving each song “a bit of a twist.”
That?s not to say the band is resting on its laurels. Far from it.
They are touring in support of the recently released CD “At The End of Paths Taken,” which has received high praise from critics.
“Songs so intimate that they sound like singer Margo Timmins could be whispering them in your ear remain the group?s hallmark, but the delivery continues to grow more sophisticated,” Billboard magazine reported.
Anton and his bandmates are pleased by the reviews of the work he calls “almost a concept album,” with plenty of strings and synthesizers. Thus far, the album has also been well received by fans.
“We are playing quite a bit from the new album on this tour,” Anton said. “Thematically it is pretty focused. … People are responding well to that.”
But the fans who come to the show will also hear plenty of the music that has made the Cowboy Junkies famous.
“Growing up, people have discovered those songs through word of mouth,” said Anton, who insists the band doesn?t grow weary of playing the older songs. “When we?re in concert, we are intent on playing [those songs] so that they are perfect. ? That keeps it fresh.”
IF YOU GO
The Cowboy Junkies
» Venue: Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place, Baltimore
» Time: 7 p.m., Wednesday
» Tickets: $25
» More info: ticketmaster.com; 410-547-SEAT
