Welcome to the 50th episode of "Music Is The Drug", and we're marking the occasion with Michael Timmins and Alan Anton discussing perhaps the Junkies' best known recording, "Sweet Jane", from "The Trinity Session". A song that was in the repert

49. Such Ferocious Beauty - Part 3

Jul 8th, 2023 1h

Welcome to the third part of our special series of podcasts to mark the release of Cowboy Junkies’ new album, “Such Ferocious Beauty”. With the help of music from the album, some demos and an excerpt from an as yet unreleased track, this time w

48. Such Ferocious Beauty - Part 2

Jun 2nd, 2023 46m 9s

On June 2nd 2023, Cowboy Junkies release their new album, “Such Ferocious Beauty”, an album of ten songs that is up there with anything they’ve done right across their career. To celebrate its release, we’ve got a two part conversation with Mic

47. Such Ferocious Beauty - Part 1

Jun 2nd, 2023 56m 34s

46. Simon Keeper

May 20th, 2023 13m 30s

A morality - or immorality - tale for a modern age "Simon Keeper" looks at how greed can, sometimes, bring business to its knees, and, on the opposite side of the coin, how once a scammer, always a scammer...Recorded originally for "Open", usin

45. Where Are You Tonight?

May 10th, 2023 13m 17s

"Where Are You Tonight?" was first released on "The Caution Horses" in 1990, was on last year's "Sharon" release which looked at the band's first pass at recording that material, was included in the "200 More Miles" live album and is still ofte

44. Isn't It A Pity?

May 5th, 2023 11m 26s

When Cowboy Junkies were putting together "Early 21st Century Blues" in 2005, their response to a post 9/11 world where the possibility of greater understanding and unity had, as ever been bulldozed by the rush to war, they were looking to find

43. Hard To Build. Easy To Break.

Apr 25th, 2023 15m 16s

In this episode, it's the turn of "Hard To Build. Easy To Break.", another new song from the band's upcoming album, "Such Ferocious Beauty", to come under the spotlight.Like "What I Lost", the song is a co-write by Michael Timmins and Alan Ant

43. Hard To Build. Easy To Break.

Apr 25th, 2023 15m 16s

42. Supernatural

Apr 20th, 2023 12m 11s

Cowboy Junkies were in the midst of recording 'Renmin Park' for what became the 'Nomad Series' when they heard of the sad death of Vic Chestnut on Christmas Eve 2009.Vic had toured with and supported the band on a number of occasions and their

41. Follower 2

Apr 11th, 2023 15m 42s

In our last episode, we talked about a brand new song, "What I Lost", from the band's upcoming new album, "Such Ferocious Beauty". In it, Michael Timmins referenced its thematic links with "Follower 2", a song from "AtThe End Of Paths Taken", s

40. What I Lost

Mar 29th, 2023 21m 37s

"Music Is The Drug" is back for a fourth series and we're starting out by talking about a brand new song, "What I Lost" from the band's upcoming new album, "Such Ferocious Beauty". A co-write by Michael Timmins and Alan Anton, they take us thro

39. My Little Basquiat

Nov 12th, 2022 14m 50s

Taken from "At The End Of Paths Taken", "My Little Basquiat" is a song that still has its place in the Junkies' live set some 15 years later. built around Alan Anton's bass groove and featuring on of Michael Timmins' favourite guitar solos, Mik

38. State Trooper

Nov 5th, 2022 13m 25s

Going back to Cowboy Junkies' first album, "Whites Off Earth Now!!", in this episode, Michael Timmins and Alan Anton take a look at the whys and wherefores behind the inclusion of Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper" on a record that otherwise c

37. Ikea Parking Lot

Oct 29th, 2022 11m 30s

Some songs never quite make it onto albums not because they're not up to standard, but because they simply refuse to fit in with all the other songs. In the olden days, they'd get scooped up and used on the b-side of a single or 12", but in the

36. Breathing

Oct 22nd, 2022 8m 54s

"Breathing" is a song from the "Ghosts" album that was released by Cowboy Junkies as the world began to slip into Covid lockdown in March 2020.Deeply personal, strikingly minimalist, powerfully emotional, we'll just leave it to Michael Timmins

35. Renmin Park album special

Oct 12th, 2022 42m 7s

"Renmin Park" is surely the most unusual album in the Cowboy Junkies' canon, an album that grew from a trip Michael Timmins and his family took to China. Using ideas and field recordings from his time out there, collaborating with Chinese music

34. Southern Rain

Oct 8th, 2022 17m 24s

Having beguiled the world with their first three albums, as Cowboy Junkies approached "Black Eyed Man", they felt it was time to change things up a little, breaking up much of "The Caution Horses" band, bringing in new musicians, different ins

33. Thousand Year Prayer

Sep 29th, 2022 11m 8s

Back in late 1999, we were thinking less about partying and more about whether or not the modern world was going to collapse at midnight on December 31st, ravaged by the Y2K bug. Sean Connery solved that one for us, as Alan Anton points out in

32. 1979

Sep 24th, 2022 31m 24s

1979 might not seem an obvious episode for a podcast from a band that didn't start until six years later, but it was a pivotal year for Alan Anton and Michael Timmins as they put together their first ever band, Hunger Project. Inspired by the b

31. Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)

Sep 17th, 2022 14m 43s

In this episode, we’re going back nearly 35 years, to a song from “The Trinity Session”, the album that put Cowboy Junkies on the international map. One of the biggest songs from that album was “Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)” which was r

30. Sharon album special

Sep 10th, 2022 37m 39s

Welcome back to the start of the third series of Music Is The Drug - and they said it wouldn't last...It's not too many bands that can dig into their archives and unearth an entire unreleased album, but that's what Cowboy Junkies have done with

29. Early 21st Century Blues album special

Jul 16th, 2022 31m 37s

The world in tumult. Political instability. War.Yes, that was the far off world of 2005. Thank heavens those times never came again...In the aftermath of 9/11, of the invasion of Iraq, the golden promise of the end of the Cold War just over a d

28. 'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel

Jul 9th, 2022 16m 23s

"It's the kind of night that's so cold when you spit, it freezes before it hits the ground..."Has there ever been a better opening couplet to a song than that? Nope. That's how "'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel" begins on "The Caution Horses" album,

27. Townies special

Jul 2nd, 2022 53m 7s

In this special episode we concentrate on "Townies: An Audioplay", the album put together by Michael Timmins and Andy Maize of Skydiggers in 2020 and we are joined by both of them to chart the writing and recording of a project that was initial