Toronto-based musicians Michael Timmins and Alan Anton formed a group called Hunger Project in 1979. It was not successful and, now basing themselves in the UK, they formed the experimental instrumental outfit, Germinal. Returning to Toronto, they joined forces with Timmins' sister Margo and brother Peter. As the Cowboy Junkies (which was simply an attention-grabbing name), they recorded their first album, Whites Off Earth Now!!, in a private house. Their second album, The Trinity Session, was made with one microphone in the Church of Holy Trinity, Toronto, for $250. The band's spartan, less-is-more sound captivated listeners and, with little publicity, the second album sold 250,000 copies in North America. The tracks included a curious reinterpretation of "Blue Moon" called "Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)" and the country standards "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Walkin' After Midnight". Lou Reed praised their version of his song "Sweet Jane", and in 1991, they contributed "To Lay Me Down" to a tribute to the Grateful Dead, Deadicated.

Their previous year's album The Caution Horses included several vintage country songs, which, true to form, were performed in their whispered, five miles-per-hour style. The extent of the Cowboy Junkies' fast-growing reputation was sufficient for them to promote the 1992 album Black Eyed Man at London's Royal Albert Hall. By the release of 1995's Lay It Down, their debut for Geffen Records, the band had firmly settled into such a distinctive style that it was hard to see how they could expand their appeal to reach a wider audience. Critically acclaimed and cultishly adored, the album was recorded to the highest standards. Timmins' understated guitar was very much the lead instrument, with barely a hint of a solo, perfectly complementing Margo Timmins' eerie vocals. Miles From Our Home was too well recorded for some, although there was no denying the quality that permeates everything the band releases. The live Waltz Across America documents highlights from their 1999/2000 North American tour.

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