It’s lonely on the road, as countless rock musicians have complained – even if your brother and sister are in the band. So Michael Timmins, guitarist and chief songwriter for Canadian group the Cowboy Junkies, always has a book at the ready. And as you’d expect from a musician perhaps most famous for interpreting “Sweet Jane,” his tastes are dark and moody.
Timmins, along with brother Peter (drums), sister Margo (vocals) and bandmate Alan Anton (bass) are celebrating 20 years in music by reinterpreting the band’s seminal album, “Trinity Session,” recorded live in 1988 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto. The resulting CD/DVD, “Trinity Revisited,” is out Tuesday.
While waiting for soundcheck, here are some of Michael Timmins favorite literary escapes:
Coming Through Slaughter
by Michael Ondaatje
A unique blend of poetry and prose. If music were words its rhythm, dynamics and color would sound something like this book read aloud. Beautiful.
Jernigan
by David Gates
One of the funniest novels that I have ever read and one of the saddest. A biting, malicious, exploration of the dark side of the American dream . . . fear and loathing, indeed.
Independence Day
by Richard Ford
I could have chosen four or five Ford books as among my favorites. He is one of those writers that must be read if the realities, conflicts and absurdities of modern day America are of any interest. His books never fail to spark an idea for a new song . . . if you’re going to steal, steal from the best.
The Watch
by Rick Bass
A very magical collection of short stories and hard to compare to anything else. “Transported” is a hackneyed word to describe the effect that a piece of fiction has on its reader, but there is something other worldly about these stories that tend to, well, transport the reader. Kind of like the first time you really “listened” to “Dark Side Of The Moon” on headphones.