On Sunday, Feb. 8th, 2026 , the Mary Webb Centre for the Arts in Highgate hosted a full house of people who braved very cold temperatures to see the Cowboy Junkies. Somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of those in attendance had not been to the MWC before, something that we certainly hope will change with them. There were folks there from London, Windsor, Toronto, Kalamazoo MI as well as visitors from England. The show started off with music played over the speakers for 2-3 minutes and then the band coming on to the stage. Lead singer Margot Timmins, commented that the drive from Toronto was very beautiful with all of the snow on the fields .She admitted that she didn’t know where were Highgate was and still wasn’t sure. She is a very different singer and is backed up by 4 amazing musicians, who in the opinion of our sound tech, are the most together group who have played at the MWC. Their third song, off their new album was quite slow, heavy on the bass, good to listen to. Margot did comment that the great majority of their songs are slow and melodic and sad. Her song, “What I Lost Today” told about their 90 year old dad fading with dementia. “Where are You Tonight” featured some very interesting electric mandolin and harmonica, with “Shining Moon” featuring a beautiful harmonica solo. The musician who played the harmonica and mandolin also played a lap slide guitar, which was quite unique.
After the intermission, the song “Sweet Jane” was very melodic with great instrumentals. ”Circe” was a fun song with as usual, wonderful instrumentals. For several of the last few songs, only the mandolin, guitarist and Margot were on stage. A very intriguing part of the show. “Lyssa” had just the singer and the guitarist on a very slow and nice song. Before the end of the concert, singer Margo introduced the band: Peter Timmins, her younger brother and her other brother Michael Timmins, along with Alan Anton and Jeff Bird.
She thanked her tech crew, Dev Ray, Christian Hurb and Edward Henderson and thanked all the many volunteers who helped run the MWC. She said that they had actually served their supper on real plates with real cutlery, which does not always happen. After their final song, “Driving Wheel”, a romantic song which highlighted Margo’s amazing voice, they were given a standing ovation and returned for a 2 song encore. It was a wonderful concert.
l-r: Jeff Bird, Michael Timmins, Peter Timmins , Margo Timmins and Alan Anton