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Cowboy Junkies, A Long Way from 'Trinity'

Margo and Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies perform at NPR studios.
David Banks, NPR
Margo and Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies perform at NPR studios.

It's been more than 16 years since the Cowboy Junkies recorded their acclaimed album, The Trinity Session. Its spare sound owed as much to the setup -- a single microphone captured the band performing live in a Toronto church -- as to the haunting voice of lead singer Margo Timmins.

Pressed to perform "Misguided Angel," the iconic song from that session, Timmins tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that she can't do it the same way. "When I first started, that song was more of a romantic story of bad boy meets good girl," she says. "Now I think... maybe it's not such a good idea," she adds with a laugh.

"I'm just 20 years older and I don't really know how I sang it 20 years ago," Timmins says. "When I listen to Trinity Session, it's like looking at old photos and you see a picture of yourself and [think], 'Who were you at that age and why'd you have that hairdo?'"

During a visit to NPR, Timmins and brother Michael Timmins perform songs from the band's latest CD, One Soul Now, as well as from Trinity.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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