They rented a house on 547 Crawford Street in Toronto and insulated the garage to form their own rehearsal space, later referred to as Studio 547.

They recruited Michael's younger brother Pete Timmins for drums and started exploring new sounds, drawing improvisation from jazz musicians Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane while applying the sound to the early blues of Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson.

Instead, they recruited Michael's younger sister, Margo, who was working as a social worker and not interested in pursuing music and was considering going to graduate school.

Peter Moore and the band met again later at a dinner party held by Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor, and when they got talking about recording equipment and techniques, Moore found that his interest in single-mic recording meshed with their desire of capturing the intimate sound of their rehearsal garage.

The Cowboy Junkies and Moore came together at the Crawford Street house and rehearsal space on June 26, 1986 and turned the garage into a recording studio.

[7] The Cowboy Junkies had to distribute the album themselves, but managed to sell four thousand copies, and started to develop a cult following in Toronto.

establishes the sparse country blues sound that took the band to international fame with their next album, 1988's The Trinity Session.