Renmin Park (Nomad Series, Volume 1)

In late 2008, my family and I were given an opportunity to spend three months in China. Renmin Park is a reflection of my family's adventure in China. It's a fictional love story about two people whose two worlds will forever keep them apart.

It's a thank-you letter to an obscure city and the people who opened up their lives to five very strange strangers. It's a document about a bewilderingly complex culture that is, once again, experiencing a massive upheaval. It's another chapter in a band's ongoing twenty-five year journey. - Michael Timmins (March 2010)

Michael became enamored with the original Chinese music to which he was exposed as well as the sounds he encountered in everyday life. Both of these elements led to the creation of the latest Cowboy Junkies album, Remnin Park. Two of the artists that he became attached to were Zuoxiao Zuzhou (ZXZZ) and Xu Wei and the band covers songs by each on Renmin Park (ZXZZ's "I Cannot Sit Sadly By Your Side" and Xu Wei's "My Fall"). In addition, ZXZZ contributes an original lyric and vocal performance to "A Walk In The Park." Field recordings Timmins made of everything from street sounds to badminton games to children in the classroom are incorporated into a number of songs.

For 25 years, Cowboy Junkies have remained true to their unique artistic vision and to the introspective, quiet intensity that is their musical signature, creating a body of original work that has been critically acclaimed and has endeared them to an audience unwavering in its loyalty. Albums like The Trinity Session (1988), The Caution Horses (1990), Black Eyed Man (1992), Pale Sun, Crescent Moon (1993), Lay It Down (1996) and more recently, Open (2001), One Soul Now (2004), Early 21st Century Blues (2005) and At the End of Paths Taken (2007) chronicle their singular creative journey.