Rewind: 1988 The Trinity Session - Cowboy Junkies

The Trinity Session is a 1988 album by Canadian alternative country/folk rock band Cowboy Junkies, their second album.

The music was recorded at Toronto, Ontario's Church of the Holy Trinity on 27 November 1987, with the band circled around a single microphone. The album includes a mixture of original material by the band and covers of classic folk, rock and country songs, including the band's most famous single, a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", based on the version found on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, rather than the later studio version from Loaded. Also included is "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)", which is both a cover and an original, combining a new song by the band with the pop standard "Blue Moon".

The album was released in early 1988 on Latent Records in Canada, and rereleased worldwide later in the year on RCA Records. "Working on a Building" and "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)" did not appear on the Latent Records release. "Blue Moon Revisited" was originally released on It Came from Canada, Vol. 4, a compilation of Canadian independent bands.

In 2007 the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series. Also in that year, the band returned to The Church of the Holy Trinity to record a new version of the Trinity Session with guest musicians Natalie Merchant, Vic Chesnutt and Ryan Adams. This new set of recordings was released as Trinity Revisited, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Trinity Session.

Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis) was probably the first song I ever heard from Cowboy Junkies when it was released as a single in the UK in 1989. Hearing the album for the first time just blew me away and they are a group I've kept tabs on ever since.
 

 The Trinity Session - Cowboy Junkies

RCA/Latent

Produced by Peter Moore

Released 15th November 1988

 Canadian Chart #28

US Chart #26

Cowboy Junkies
    Margo Timmins – lead vocals
    Michael Timmins – guitar
    Alan Anton – bass
    Peter Timmins – drums

Additional musicians
    John Timmins – guitar, backing vocals
    Kim Deschamps – pedal steel guitar, dobro, bottleneck slide guitar
    Jeff Bird – fiddle, harmonica, mandolin
    Steve Shearer – harmonica
    Jaro Czwewinec – accordion

Singles from The Trinity Session

Sweet Jane

 Canadian Chart #75

Misguided Angel

Canadian Chart #24 

Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)

UK Chart #87

The Trinity Revisited (2007)

Cooking Vinyl

Released 16th October 2007

Produced by François Lamoureux

Canadian Chart #94
 

Personnel
    Margo Timmins – lead vocals
    Michael Timmins – guitar
    Alan Anton – bass
    Peter Timmins – drums
    Jeff Bird
    Ryan Adams
    Natalie Merchant
    Vic Chesnutt

Trinity Revisited is an album and a film by Cowboy Junkies, released on October 16, 2007. It is a remake of the Junkies' most famous album, The Trinity Session. The new album was recorded in the fall of 2006 at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, the same venue where the original album was recorded.

Guest musicians on the 2007 album include Natalie Merchant, Ryan Adams and Vic Chesnutt. Each takes the lead vocal on one of the album's songs (Adams on "200 More Miles", Merchant on "To Love Is to Bury" and Chesnutt on "Postcard Blues"), and shares vocal and musical duties on other tracks. Jeff Bird, a session musician who has appeared on virtually every Cowboy Junkies album but has never been credited as an official band member, also appears.

The album was also packaged with a performance film, Trinity Revisited, and a documentary film, Trinity Session Revisited, both by directors Pierre and François Lamoureux.

A few songs from the album/film

Trailer for the Film.

Misguided Angel.

Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis) (Audio).

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Audio).

To Love Is To Bury (with Natalie Merchant).

200 More Miles (with Ryan Adams).

Sweet Jane (Audio).