Early 21st Century Blues is an album by the Canadian alt-country band Cowboy Junkies, released in 2005.

The album features two original songs and covers of material by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison and Richie Havens.

The theme the band decided on was to be on war, violence, fear, greed, ignorance, or loss, and everybody had to bring two or three songs written by other people.

[2] The genesis of the album were a pair of songs that the Junkies had taken to their heart, "Isn't It a Pity" by George Harrison which they started performing on the Long Journey Home Tour the previous year, and "December Skies" which was written and recorded in October 2002 during the One Soul Now sessions and inspired by The Wars by Timothy Findley.

When they listened to their session, they realized there was a hip-hop motion to the loop, so they invited a friend of theirs, Kevin Bond, also known as Rebel, to improvise and record a rap element, using the album themes as a basis.