The album title emerged from a quote from John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath: "Maybe it's all men and all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit – the human sperit – the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body’s a part of." The idea behind One Soul Now is that everyone is interconnected. While the Cowboy Junkies was touring to support Open, the band members started collecting second-hand recording equipment without a plan or purpose, just a need. When the band was back home, they looked at all the recording studios, and decided to set up the recording equipment in their rehearsal area, eventually turning their space into a recording studio, The Clubhouse. One Soul Now is the first album the band made in their new studio. Having their rehearsal space become their recording studio changed the process of creating their tracks. Previously, they would start in the rehearsal space, determine how the songs would work, then go to a studio when ready. Now, the band recorded everything as they worked through the rehearsal process. Later, when they listened to the recordings, the Junkies could pick out the recording where the songs were most vibrant. Per the band, "For example "He Will Call You Baby" was recorded as the band was learning the arrangement and still unsure; "No Long Journey Home" was a trial run through with embellishments added later; "The Stars of Our Stars" was broken down into individual instruments and recorded piece by piece over the course of many weeks…" The band's ninth studio album is their first album recorded without an outside producer or engineer. One song, "Simon Keeper", was recorded much earlier, during the Open sessions at Daryl Smith's recording studio, Chemical Sound. The Cowboy Junkies also recorded a 5 song bonus EP of cover songs that they labeled 'neath your covers, part 1. They gave away the bonus CD free with every purchase of the One Soul Now CD while supplies lasted.
Track listing
Personnel
Cowboy Junkies
Margo Timmins – vocals
Michael Timmins – guitar
Alan Anton – bass
Peter Timmins – drums
Additional musicians
Jeff Bird – percussion, electronic mandolin, melodica
