May 13 & 14, 2010
Katherine Hepburn Theater, Old Saybrook CT
Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield CT

Cowboy Junkies originally inspired me to start taping concerts after I began following them in 2001 and remain one of my favorite bands today, so I wanted them to be represented among my recordings here on tapers.org. They’ve always been very friendly to tapers and have a number of long-time fans who have been recording them for many years. These guys were the first tapers I ever met, and the fact that they were able to capture the Junkies’ performances in high fidelity so they could be enjoyed any time completely blew my mind. Two of them in particular (known to fans as Roekbarnet and Crazy Ed) were instrumental in getting me started as a taper by means of their example and generous advice. Aside from being very taper-friendly, the band is unusual in the extent to which they engage their fans on their website and during their tours. Margo still comes out to say hello to anyone who wants to stick around after almost every show.

There are dozens of excellent recordings of the Junkies on the Live Music Archive, and these two are by no means among the best publicly available — in fact they’re not even the best recordings I’ve made of the band. But I think they do a very good job of capturing the unique experience of being at a Cowboy Junkies show from two very different sonic perspectives, and perhaps convey a little of why I keep going back to see them every time they come through the Northeast after more than 50 shows. Both shows were recorded from my seat, the first night from the center of the first row and the second night from the last row of the orchestra right in front of the board. I also taped the Old Saybrook show from the back of the theater (which has awesome acoustics) with a pair of AKG 483s on a stand about 9′ up, but a gaggle of drunken geese a few rows in front of the mics spoiled much of that tape. This fallback recording from my seat sounds surprisingly good considering the first row is rarely a good place to tape from – kudos to The Kate’s sound system and the engineers for exceptionally balanced sound at the front of the house.

These two performances featured a number of selections from the Junkies’ latest CD Renmin Park, a collection of songs largely inspired by bandleader Michael Timmins’ three-month visit to China in 2008. Like most of their albums, the new record is unmistakably Cowboy Junkies but also very different musically and thematically from anything that came before. If you like what you hear, I encourage you to check it out along with the rest of the impressive discography they’ve created in their 20+ year career at www.cowboyjunkies.com. The band’s seminal blues influences were also in evidence these two nights, with great performances of Shining Moon, Hard to Explain and Robert Johnson’s Me And The Devil (which literally lifts off the stage during the Old Saybrook show).

Margo Timmins – vocals
Michael Timmins – guitar
Alan Anton – bass
Peter Timmins – drums
Jeff Bird – harmonica, mandolin, percussion, melodica, samples
Aaron Goldstein – pedal steel, guitar


May 13
First Row at the Katherine Hepburn Theater in Old Saybrook CT

Disc 1
1. Common Disaster
2. Horse In The Country
3. the new album
4. Little Dark Heart
5. Sir Francis Bacon At The Net
6. Bea’s Song
7. Hard To Explain
8. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
9. Renmin Park

Disc 2
1. Working On A Building
2. Crescent Moon *
3. I Don’t Get It
4. Hold On To Me
5. I Cannot Sit Sadly By Your Side
6. My Fall
7. Moonlight Mile
8. Me And The Devil
9. band intros
10. Misguided Angel
11. Powderfinger
12. 200 More Miles **

* Margo left the stage to fix a monitor wire that hitched up the back of her skirt
** Pete took this song at an unusually slow tempo and at the end you can hear him winding down to a crawl as a prank

Stream the show from this link.
FLAC files can be downloaded from this page.
A zipped file of hi-fi mp3s can be downloaded from here.

House mix by Jared the sound guy
Recorded and mastered by Keith from NY

Milab VM-44 Link cardioids (5′ from stage DFC) > Oade Concert PMD661 @24/44.1
Cardreader > Audition 3.0/Ozone 4 (limiting on applause, EQ, compression < 180Hz, gain, fades, MBIT+ dither) > CD Wave (tracking) > FLAC Level 8


May 14
Last Row at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield CT

Disc 1
1. Escape Is So Simple
2. Hunted
3. Shining Moon
4. Little Dark Heart
5. My Fall
6. Sun Comes Up It’s Tuesday Morning
7. Hard to Explain
8. Moonlight Mile
9. Cicadas
10. Something More Without You
11. A Few Simple Words
12. Renmin Park
13. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
14. Me And The Devil

Disc 2
1. band intros
2. Lost My Driving Wheel
3. Powderfinger
4. Walking After Midnight

Stream the show from this link.
FLAC files can be downloaded from this page.
A zipped file of hi-fi mp3s can be downloaded from here.

House mix by Jared the sound guy
Recorded and mastered by Keith from NY

Milab VM-44 Link cardioids (60′ from stage DFC) > Oade Concert PMD661 @24/44.1
Cardreader > Audition 3.0/Ozone 4 (limiting on applause, EQ, compression < 120Hz, gain, fades, MBIT+ dither) > CD Wave (tracking) > FLAC Level 8

Photos by Jason Lent
Roses by Crazy Ed

Many thanks to the band, their crew and the staff at The Kate and Ridgefield Playhouse for their permission and assistance.

Support the artists and buy Cowboy Junkies’ CDs and stuff!

www.cowboyjunkies.com