According to the band's website, the direction of
The Trinity Session was influenced by music they had heard while touring the southern United States in support of their debut studio album
Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986). The album's lyrics and instrumentation were lifted from the classic
country groups to which the band was exposed, and the song "200 More Miles" was written in reference to the band's life on the road. As they had done on
Whites, Cowboy Junkies wanted to record live with one stereo microphone direct to tape. Although it is stated on the album cover that the recording was made on two-track
R-DAT, according to recording engineer
Peter J. Moore, it was actually recorded on a
Sony Betamax SL-2000 video cassette deck connected to a Sony PCM-F1 analog/digital converter, using one single Calrec ambisonic microphone. Moore suggested the
Church of the Holy Trinity in
Toronto for its natural reverb. To better persuade the officials of the historic church, the band claimed to be the Timmins Family Singers and said they were recording a Christmas special for radio. The session began on the morning of November 27, 1987. The group first recorded the songs with the fewest instruments and then the songs with gradually more complex arrangements. In this way, Moore and the band were able to solve acoustic problems one by one. To better balance
Margo Timmins' vocals against the electric guitars and drums, she was recorded through a
PA system that had been left behind by a previous group. By making subtle changes in volume and placement relative to the microphone over six hours, Moore and the band had finally reached the distinctive sound of the album by the time the last of the guest musicians arrived at the church. The band was unable to rehearse with most of the guest musicians before the day of the session. Considering the method of recording and time constraints, this could have been disastrous for the songs that required seven or more musicians, but after paying a security guard $25 for an extra two hours of recording time, Contrary to popular myth, the album was not entirely recorded in one day. In the hustle of the first recording session, the band did not have time to record Margo Timmins'
a cappella chanting on "Mining for Gold". She and Moore recorded the song a few days later during the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra's lunch break. "
Working on a Building" and "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)" did not appear on the Latent Records release. "Blue Moon Revisited" was originally released on
It Came from Canada, Vol. 4 (1988), a compilation of Canadian independent bands. ==Accolades==