The Making of the Hit Song Mr Jones: How Counting Crows Developed Their Iconic Song

Adam Duritz Remembers the Beginnings

The initial albums were primarily produced in houses located in the hills above Los Angeles. August and Everything After signified a major milestone for the band, as it was their inaugural release on a large record company. Each member received an upfront payment of $3,000; with it, I to buy a 1971 cherry red VW Karmann Ghia and traveled to LA.

Each day, I would start by playing a Poco track, which resembles the Beatles venturing into American folk. Additionally, I frequently played a Benny Goodman album that my father had picked up as a free giveaway at a Texaco station during my childhood.

Mr Jones was included on a demo that we submitted to labels, but it proved a challenging track to complete. We didn’t have a clear direction at first. It’s not a leisurely tune nor a fast-paced rock song; rather, it gallops along, requiring a real feel to play. It’s soul music – closer to the Stax Records sound than country.

Our drummer couldn’t hear the track as the rest of us did – thus T Bone brought in one of his heroes to play it.

We looked at several producers, but when I spoke with T Bone Burnett, he seemed to understand where the band was headed. We had a lot of promise, but I wasn’t satisfied with our sound – we were still learning how to work together. We removed all the synthesizers and effects pedals. Our drummer Steve Bowman couldn’t sync with the tempo, so T Bone invited a renowned drummer, one of Steve’s heroes, to lay down the drums. It’s a funny story, but it was hard on Steve back then.

Marty Jones and I had played in bands together before Counting Crows. Marty’s dad, a flamenco musician, had made it in Spain and was back in the San Francisco area performing a tour. Attended one of his shows and spent the night with the flamenco troupe bar-hopping. The next morning, I returned and wrote Mr Jones. It’s about our experience that night, dreaming we were cool musicians so we could talk to the women more confidently.

I believe, it’s among the finest songs I’ve composed. We performed another track on Saturday Night Live in 1994, the album jumped dozens of positions each week for over a month. Afterwards, Mr Jones turned into a major success.

David Immerglück Recalls His Memories

In the late 1980s, the band members were sharing a space in a industrial building in Berkeley. Previously, I performed with Camper Van Beethoven and had an side project named Monks of Doom.

One evening, I found Adam with a fresh recording he’d just done with the guitarist. I heard this track titled Mr Jones. Recorded with a Dr Rhythm pocket drum machine that sounded like a arcade sound or popcorn popping, but his vocals were exceptional.

Once T Bone took over, it felt like a complete transformation of Counting Crows. The approach back to basics influenced by folk and soul legends.

I got a call from Adam asking, “Listen, can you join us and contribute to this record?” When I got there, the producer had relocated us to a recording space in LA’s Encino – previously used by a Jackson 5 member. Inside, we found instruments that Bob Dylan had just recorded on.

T Bone told me to play my guitar slightly behind the beat. His words were, “Playing too fast ahead of the drums makes you sound like an teenager hurrying.” With his southern accent, and his advice was to imagine relaxing on the mixing board and chewing gum during the performance.

Counting Crows was, to an extent, a response to grunge. Kurt Cobain’s death seemed the final act. Back then, many were on heroin. The goal was self-destruction, not enlightenment. The nihilism had reached an extreme, and the trend shifted toward something emotional and sincere. Counting Crows combined folk and rock with a heavy dose of Van Morrison soul.

The song remains timeless. Sometimes, when performing with the singer, I remember that moment when he first shared the demo. Absolutely incredible.