July 23, 2018

Here’s Some Folk-Pop for Confronting the Late-Night Demons

Cowboy Junkies is the ultimate mood music.

Album Review

Cowboy Junkies
All That Reckoning
Latent

Led by singer Margo Timmins and her brother, guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins, Canada’s Cowboy Junkies have been making distinctive, brooding folk-pop for more than three decades. Though best known for their breakthrough second album, The Trinity Session, the group has been remarkably consistent over the years, spinning understated tales of endless longing and occasional fulfillment that rely on the elegant gravity of Timmins’ commanding voice. All That Reckoning ranks among the band’s best, reaffirming the subtle vitality of their familiar lulling sound, along with offering a few arresting wrinkles. “The Things We Do” reflects real-world madness, noting, “Fear is not so far from hate,” while the stinging rockers “Sing Me a Song” and “Missing Children” prove the quartet can get a bit rowdy when the mood strikes. Still, Cowboy Junkies’ music remains the ultimate after-midnight soundtrack for confronting demons and trying to find answers to the big questions.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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