The Trinity Session

According to the band's website,{{cite web |url=http://www.cowboyjunkies.com/albums/trinitysession/index2.html |title=The Trinity Session |website=cowboyjunkies.com |access-date=May 12, 2008 |last=Timmins |first=Mike |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619074617/http://www.cowboyjunkies.com/albums/trinitysession/index2.html |archive-date=June 19, 2008 |url-status=dead}} the direction of The Trinity Session was influenced by music they had heard while touring the southern United States in support of their debut studio album Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986). The album's lyrics and instrumentation were lifted from the classic country groups to which the band was exposed, and the song "200 More Miles" was written in reference to the band's life on the road.

As they had done on Whites, Cowboy Junkies wanted to record live with one stereo microphone direct to tape. Although it is stated on the album cover that the recording was made on two-track R-DAT, according to recording engineer Peter J. Moore, it was actually recorded on a Sony Betamax SL-2000 video cassette deck connected to a Sony PCM-F1 analog/digital converter, using one single Calrec ambisonic microphone.{{cite web |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/cowboy-junkies-sweet-jane |title=Cowboy Junkies 'Sweet Jane' |website=Sound on Sound |date=October 2015 |access-date=April 22, 2017 |last=Doyle |first=Tom}}

Moore suggested the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto for its natural reverb. To better persuade the officials of the historic church, the band claimed to be the Timmins Family Singers and said they were recording a Christmas special for radio. The session began on the morning of November 27, 1987. The group first recorded the songs with the fewest instruments and then the songs with gradually more complex arrangements. In this way, Moore and the band were able to solve acoustic problems one by one. To better balance Margo Timmins' vocals against the electric guitars and drums, she was recorded through a PA system that had been left behind by a previous group. By making subtle changes in volume and placement relative to the microphone over six hours, Moore and the band had finally reached the distinctive sound of the album by the time the last of the guest musicians arrived at the church.{{cite web |url=http://nodepression.com/article/cowboy-junkies-cold-grey-light-dawn |title=Cowboy Junkies – Cold grey light of dawn |website=No Depression |date=April 30, 2001 |access-date=April 21, 2017 |last=Cantin |first=Paul |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423152948/http://nodepression.com/article/cowboy-junkies-cold-grey-light-dawn |archive-date=April 23, 2017 |url-status=dead}}

The band was unable to rehearse with most of the guest musicians before the day of the session. Considering the method of recording and time constraints, this could have been disastrous for the songs that required seven or more musicians, but after paying a security guard $25 for an extra two hours of recording time, the band was able to finish, recording the final song of the session, "Misguided Angel", in a single take.{{cite web | url=https://cowboyjunkies.com/a-look-back-the-trinity-session-history-part-3-of-3/ | title=A Look Back….The Trinity Session (History – part 3 of 3) – Cowboy Junkies }}

Contrary to popular myth, the album was not entirely recorded in one day. In the hustle of the first recording session, the band did not have time to record Margo Timmins' a cappella chanting on "Mining for Gold". She and Moore recorded the song a few days later during the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's lunch break.

Sleeve notes state that the recording was not mixed, overdubbed or edited in any way.

The band followed this recording with a three-day session in April 1989 at a Quaker meeting house, but decided against releasing those songs until 2022, when they put out Sharon – The Lost Album.{{Cite web |url=https://cowboyjunkies.com/new-lost-album-sharon-available-on-vinyl/ |title=new..lost…album, Sharon, available on vinyl |last=Timmins |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Timmins |date=2022-08-29 |accessdate=2023-02-04 |language=en-CA |publisher=Cowboy Junkies}}

In 2000, it was ranked number 999 in the third edition of the book All Time Top 1000 Albums.{{cite book |title=All Time Top 1000 Albums |title-link=All Time Top 1000 Albums |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=Virgin Books |edition=3rd |year=2000 |isbn=0-7535-0493-6}} It was listed as the 42nd best album of the 1980s by Pitchfork in 2002.{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/?page=6 |title=The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s |website=Pitchfork |date=November 21, 2002 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |page=6}} In Bob Mersereau's 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums, The Trinity Session was included at number 62.{{cite book |chapter=62. The Trinity Session – Cowboy Junkies |title=The Top 100 Canadian Albums |title-link=The Top 100 Canadian Albums |last=Mersereau |first=Bob |author-link=Bob Mersereau |publisher=Goose Lane Editions |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-86492-500-8 |page=150}} In 2015, the album was named the winner in the 1980s category of the inaugural Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, an annual Canadian music award for classic albums released prior to the creation of the Polaris Music Prize.{{cite web |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/joni_mitchell_cowboy_junkies_sloan_peaches_take_home_polaris_heritage_prizes |title=Joni Mitchell, Cowboy Junkies, Sloan and Peaches Take Home Polaris Heritage Prizes |website=Exclaim! |date=October 9, 2015 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |last=Murphy |first=Sarah}} It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005).{{cite book |chapter=Cowboy Junkies: The Trinity Session |last=Conrad |first=Karen |title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |editor-last=Dimery |editor-first=Robert |publisher=Universe Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7893-1371-3 |page=593}}

{{Track listing

| total_length = 52:36

| title1 = Mining for Gold

| writer1 = Traditional, arranged by James Gordon

| length1 = 1:34

| title2 = Misguided Angel

| writer2 = {{hlist|Margo Timmins|Michael Timmins}}

| length2 = 4:58

| title3 = Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)

| writer3 = {{hlist|Margo Timmins|Michael Timmins|Richard Rodgers|Lorenz Hart}}

| length3 = 4:31

| note3 = Not included on the original vinyl release

| title4 = I Don't Get It

| writer4 = {{hlist|Margo Timmins|Michael Timmins}}

| length4 = 4:34

| title5 = I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

| writer5 = Hank Williams

| length5 = 5:24

| title6 = To Love Is to Bury

| writer6 = {{hlist|Margo Timmins|Michael Timmins}}

| length6 = 4:47

| title7 = 200 More Miles

| writer7 = Michael Timmins

| length7 = 5:29

| title8 = Dreaming My Dreams with You

| writer8 = Allen Reynolds

| length8 = 4:28

| title9 = Working on a Building

| note9 = Not included on the original vinyl release

| writer9 = Traditional

| length9 = 3:48

| title10 = Sweet Jane

| writer10 = Lou Reed

| length10 = 3:41

| title11 = Postcard Blues

| writer11 = Michael Timmins

| length11 = 3:28

| title12 = Walkin' After Midnight

| writer12 = {{hlist|Don Hecht|Alan Block}}

| length12 = 5:54

}}

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

Technical personnel

• Peter Moore – producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer

• "Blue Moon Revisited" is heard in the background in the bar scene near the end of the 2004 film Silver City.
• The album's version of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" is featured on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's 1994 movie Natural Born Killers.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite web |url={{discogs master|68424|The Trinity Session|type=album|pure_url=yes}} |title=Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session |website=Discogs |accessdate=April 25, 2013}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.junkiesfan.com/lyrics_tts.htm |title=The Trinity Session {{!}} Track lyrics |website=JunkiesFan.com |accessdate=May 13, 2017}}

{{Cowboy Junkies}}

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