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Toronto’s Cowboy Junkies have carved out an impressive career with their narcotic brand of roots rock. Reveling in downtempo numbers, they’ve often been accused of making sad music. On the Junkies’ latest album, One Soul Now, songwriter Michael Timmins addresses the issue on the song “Notes Falling Slow.” “Partly,” says Timmins, “it comes from a lot of people saying to us that our music is depressing, when actually, it’s just slow.” Nice try, Mike, but the music actually is melancholic. Timmins’ sister, singer Margo, confirms as much when she explains that the new album’s songs deal with “death, divorce, financial worries, age, sickness and just general fatigue.” Not typically...

Canada’s Cowboy Junkies have become one of the world’s most revered bands by whispering while others screamed. The group’s quiet brilliance first gained global acclaim with 1988’s The Trinity Session and the quartet’s subdued rock and country-folk sound has remained remarkably consistent ever since, with occasional segues into noisier moments. On its fine 16th album, the Junkies—singer Margo Timmins, her brothers Michael and Peter and family friend Alan Anton—shift between loud and soft sounds and personal and social subjects. “The Things We Do to Each Other” is a pulsing, politically charged number that warns how fear can easily turn to hate. “Sing Me a Song” is a 1960s-style rocker, comple...