It’s more than three decades since Counting Crows blew up big with their multimillion-selling debut album August And Everything After. But, as new album Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! demonstrates, the US rockers’ knack for soulful and stirring anthems remains as potent as ever.
As you’ll see, there’s a variety of influences that go into the band’s melting pot, as frontman and band leader Adam Duritz takes us on a tour through some of the sounds that have shaped his life.
The first music I remember hearing
My parents had a lot of Beatles albums. I remember listening to them. And they took me to see The Jackson 5 at a rodeo in Texas when I was a kid. That was my first concert. Those two things battle in my first musical memories, a mixture of The Beatles and The Jackson 5.
The first song I ever performed live
I have a very distinct memory of being out behind school and singing the Kiss song Beth to a bunch of girls. I remember thinking: “Oh yeah, this performing thing has some vibe to it.” I got a big reaction out of it!
The greatest album of all time
Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis. That’s always stuck out there for me. It’s such a beautiful, brilliant, groundbreaking and also an incredibly listenable and great record.
The guitar hero
Richard Thompson. Whether it’s Fairport Convention, the Richard And Linda Thompson records or his own records, he’s so brilliant. He’s got a whole unique style as an acoustic artist, and, completely separate from that, a groundbreaking style as an electric artist on the guitar.
He’s one of those rare guys that does it all: sings, writes some of the best songs ever written and is an incredible guitar player. He’s got that Hendrix thing; it’s pretty rare at that level on all three of those things. I’ve met him several times. He’s amazing. I generally say stupid shit in front of him because my brain stops working.
The singer
I’ve got a few of those. I love Rickie Lee Jones, I love Ella Fitzgerald – she’s one of the greatest singers ever, if not the greatest singer. I think Bob Dylan is a phenomenal singer. A lot of people think he’s not, but he just may not have the voice everyone thinks of. I love Matty Healy’s singing from The 1975.
My favourite band right now
Gang Of Youths, an Australian band who live in London. My girlfriend turned me on to them. She got me into their music years ago now. We went to see them and we hit it off, and Dave Le’aupepe and his wife ended up spending Christmas with us. We’ve been brothers ever since. The band is off the hook. They’re so good live. They had a big effect on our new record and made me wake up to the fact that I’d been a little lazy in some of the writing, so I rewrote it.
The songwriter
I’m more a McCartney guy than a Lennon guy. You know, lyrics are one thing, you live your day and then you write from that. But a melody, man, you gotta pull melodies out of thin air. They just don’t exist. So that kind of magic, where that comes from, I don’t even know. Paul McCartney has probably written sixty or seventy songs that if you name them, I could hum them to you.
The best cover version
Respect by Aretha Franklin. Because that’s really an Otis Redding song, and her version becomes the version. That’s the problem with Aretha, she would cover songs and then they would be better than everyone else’s version. Dionne Warwick’s I Say A Little Prayer is one of the best songs ever recorded, and then Aretha’s version is even better.
The song I never get tired of playing
A Long December. It’s thirty-odd years of touring, and we tour all the time, so I get tired of every song at some point but that’s the only one where I don’t. I think it’s the most perfectly crafted song I ever wrote. There’s something about it that always feels right to play. Maybe it’s just because I’m lazy and I sit down because I play piano.
The song that makes me cry
We Do Not Belong Together, from the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday In The Park With George.
The most difficult record I’ve ever made
The first one, August And Everything After. I didn’t know how to make a record and we were very new as a band. When we got signed, I put the band through a bunch of changes. I wasn’t very good at being a band leader. I didn’t know how to be wrong. I was an asshole. I made it hard on everybody, and I was hard on myself. I think everyone in the band at some point tried to quit during that first album.
My Saturday night party song
Hot In Here by Nelly. It’s The Neptunes producing, Pharrell [Williams] early on in his career. He is the greatest at every instrument, and those tracks are honed to a razor’s edge. So funky, so good, so hooky.
The song I’d want played at my funeral
Maybe A Long December. It’s a good ending song. But I don’t want to hear someone else cover it!
Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! is out now. Counting Crows are currently on tour in the US, and will arrive in Europe next month.
