I am Musician Adam Duritz from Counting Crows. Ask me anything...

Mr. Duritz, my Mom loves you.

My question is, did you write “Round Here” with the intention of making people openly weep in their car? Or was that just a powerful side-effect of the raw emotion?

My mom too. Must be a mom thing. When I was in The Himalayans, we wrote Round Here with the intention of making Duckpin Bowling easier and more comprehensible to the public at large outside of Baltimore. It is widely misinterpreted as a meaningful statement about life and growing up.

Who is Maria??

She is

First off thank you for doing this AMA, I have enjoyed your music ever since my older sister bought August and Everything when I was 8 years old. To this day if I hear the opening 4 seconds of Mr. Jones I have trouble not singing the entire song to myself. After all you have done and been through do you still want to be Bob Dylan, or are you happy being Adam now?

Nah, I was just talking about the difference btwn me & Marty. I wanted to be a songwriter (like Dylan); he wanted to be something a little more funky. He was a bass player after all.

I read recently that you've battled with mental illness. Is there something you wish you could tell people to help with their understanding? Is the "crazy person" reference to the depersonalization disorder as a way to minimize it?

I don't think there's anything I can say except that mental illness is a real thing and it can be devastating. It's not that "everyone's a little crazy" as people are so fond of saying to me. It's terrifying and I wish it had never happened to me. That said, you get one life and you have to try to live it as best you can.

I loved hearing you cover "Friend of the Devil". What lead you/your band to cover a Dead tune?

(Shrug) I dunno. I just had the idea one day. I thought I had a take on the song that was unique. That's the important thing with interpreting someone else's tune: you need to have your own way into it.

Raining in Baltimore just got me through a really rough time. Would love to know the inspiration/story behind that song. Thanks!

I had a friend (Bonnie Simmons) who was close friends with Bonnie Raitt. She used to go thru all the cassette tapes fans sent Bonnie Raitt and find songs for Bonnie on the thousands of tapes. She actually found "Something To Talk ABout" in one of those boxes and, when I was younger, I used to help her with that. Bonnie Roaitt was one of the first professional musicians I met and she was very kind to me. I actually wrote "Raining In Baltimore" to give to Bonnie Raitt.

I have no question. I mostly just wanted to say that I enjoy your music...and commend you on doing the AMA WITHOUT an obvious ulterior motive. Almost all the AMAs you see here- only seem to appear when there's something to promote or sell (a new album debut or new show pilot.) It's gratifying to see someone just doing an AMA.

I just have a lot of answers to question.

Goodnight Elisabeth is my favorite song, I always listen to it when I'm upset or can't sleep. Thank you, CC and Adam! I love your work!

Edit: Also, I love how you always switch things up when you perform live. Your commentary is always incredibly interesting to me, and you guys seem to be so in synch with each other.

We listen to each other. In our band, listening is the MOST important part of playing.

Hi Adam!

I always get in those chill out and listen to nothing but Counting Crows for a month moods. My favourite album is August and Everything After. Although after much consideration Hard Candy may be taking over.

My question(s) are, what are the meanings behind "Anna Begins" and "Murder of One"?

Thanks! Keep up the amazing songwriting~

Anna is a song about 2 people struggling to admit how important they are to each other until it's too late. Murder is about an abusive relationship someone I knew was in. Those are both MASSIVE OVERSIMPLIFICATIONS. Songs are about MUCH more than the story in the song. It'd be more accurate to say that both songs - and really ALL my songs - are about me.

Solid Counting Crows fan here... Loved your VH1 Storytellers. You're one of the few bands that I prefer to hear the live versions over the album version. It seems that you guys keep it pretty dynamic live. Do you strive to make it interesting more for the listeners or just to keep from playing the same songs the same way over and over?

(shrug) Neither really. We're just playing the songs and letting them breathe. It's not that we're determined to play them differently each night; it's more that we're NOT trying to play them the same.

What do you like more nachos or tacos?

Tacos, of course. Lenguas and/or Tripa from the middle of the night taco trucks in East LA or the one on St. Marks

Without fail Track 5 is always my favorite track on every Counting Crows studio album. They're haunting, heartbreaking and tender... "All My Friends," "Goodnight LA," "Anna Begins," "Goodnight Elizabeth"... I've always wanted to believe it was intentional. Is there anything behind my #5 theory?

Yes. 5 is the number of the yeast.

Hi Adam! I just wanted to say that I love your music and August and Everything After has gotten me through a lot. Did you ever expect to continue playing music for this long after the first album and how do you find the energy to keep going?

I guess so. It's weird because you never really expect to succeed at something like this at all, let alone for so long. But, at the same time, no one ever dreams of playing pro ball for 1 season either. People dream a lot bigger than the usual reality, which is, I suppose, why they're dreams.

did you take tambourine lessons?

Nope. I wish. I'd probably be a lot better if I had. Tambourine can be a disaster onstage if you play it wrong because the frequency cuts through anything. For an unamplified instrument, it can be the loudest thin _ or at least the most audible - onstage

more of a comment than question but whenever a friend of mine hears me listening to the counting crows (even in the background on the phone) she immediately asks me, "what's wrong?!" but now the tunes make me think off the good times. this is also a friend who gave me the "across the wire" cds which are some truly amazing versions of those songs. thanks for the tunes!

What's wrong?

Adam, how do you pull of being so MFing sexy at 50??!

I'll tell you in a couple years

You've written some pretty confessional lyrics, ever felt self concious about people knowing whats going on inside you?

Sometimes I feel like rock & roll is just a really embarrassing act of repeated chronic oversharing

Why doesn't "Baby I'm A Big Star Now" get the credit it deserves? Might be the best Crows track and it crushes during the Rounders closing credits

That was my fuck up. I loved the song and I wanted to keep it for THIS DESERT LIFE so I told the Rounders people they could have it for the movie but not for the soundtrack album. As a result, they never released a soundtrack album. Cut to sequencing our record and I realized it just didn't belong on THIS DESERT LIFE so I left it off and since there WAS now NO soundtrack album, it exists nowhere except on the film itself.

I screwed the pooch on that one.

What's your favorite dinosaur?

TYRANNOSAURUS RECORDS, of course. I love my T-Recs (subspecies NOTAR) "NO NO NOTAR!!!"

Is this a Tig Notaro and Jeff Garlin reference?

Nah, T-Recs is my record label and NOTAR is the reason I started it. He's the one artist on the label and he's amazing. Finishing his 2nd album right now.

One of the first albums I've ever bought (back in those days when people used to buy cassette tapes):

http://imgur.com/6gRCuai

It has helped me through bouts of depression in my teenage years. Thank you so much, Mr. Duritz. Greetings from Croatia.

Right back at ya

Hi Adam – My guitar teacher finally taught me ‘A Long December.’ I love that song and it means even more now that I can play it.

Can you explain more about the depersonalization disorder you experience? How difficult does that make it to perform live or travel for touring?

I actually do better on the road these days than I do at home. At least I know what I'm supposed to do every day on tour. Sometimes I get home and just sit in my apt trying to remember people I know so I can get out of the house.

how did you like the Shrek publicity?

Don't really remember much about it. I was happy to do the song for the movie because that stuff is immortal. My grandmother saw SNOW WHITE & THE 7 DWARFS. SO did my mom, so did my sister & I, so did her kids. I took my goddaughter to the premiere.

Did your street cred with kids go up after Shrek? Did you ever think your music would be in an animated movie?

Do kids have street cred? My 5yr old nephews loved it but they didn't take me out to score dope afterwards or anything. Should they have?

You do an amazing job of discovering new bands. How do you do it?!

Ha, I just have a lot of friends with great taste who point me to good music. Check out RYAN'S SMASHING LIFE RSLBlog.com, Daytrotter.com, katiedarbyrecommends.com, I Am Fuel, You Are Friends fuelfriendsblog.com, tophatsbyjennifer.blogspot.com, Slacker.com for lots of new music

When can we expect a new originals album? Do you ever wish you guys were more prolific in terms of recorded output, or do you prefer touring?

Also, no Ireland date on the last tour? Whassupwithdat?

We can only go where we're offered gigs. There was no Irish gig offered on the last tour so we didn't go. Believe me, no one purposely avoids going to Ireland, Italy, Spain, Brazil, etc.... As for a new album, I'm busy writing right now and we're going to start recording late this Fall. Millard & Dan are coming to my house tmw to start woodshedding ideas.

I used to sleep with August and Everything After playing. The combination of songs in that album is just soothing as hell, and awesome.

What's changed the most for you since the beginning in 1993, and what's stayed the same? In any aspect.

Same size feet. Different sizes of pants over the years (although I'm now back to the same size I was wearing in 1993)

Can you elaborate on the story behind "4 Days"? One of my favorite songs. Being from Ohio, I love it even more.

A girl from Ohio was busy turning me upside down that year so the state got a LOT of play on THIS DESERT LIFE. Might be the band's favorite of all our album lately. We're obsessed with playing songs from that album live

My band actually does a cover of "Mr. Jones". My question is, are you going to sue?

No. Is it any good?

Do you drink before your live shows? I saw you in St. Paul a few years ago and you seemed really drunk, almost falling off an amp at one point. You even made the comment that a lot of concert reviewers think you're drunk but in actuality that is just how you perform.

I get really gone onstage but I rarely drink. It just takes too heavy a toll over the course of an entire tour. I can't do that and keep my voice together. It's funny though: I read a lot of stories about how I was wasted at a show but it's almost never the case on tour.

This is not to say that I don't like drinking and playing music. I LOVE drinking and playing music. I just can't do it very often; almost never unless it's a one-off gig.

Hey Adam, Thanks for doing an AMA.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Hope you come back to Toronto soon.

I think "influences" are something that people get confused a lot. It's not a direct line like journalists seem to suggest it is. I grew up in Oakland listening to a lot if funk & hip hop (P-Funk, Earth Wind & Fire, Commodores - later Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, De La Soul) but you can't really hear that in my music - except the fact that I'm really groove oriented when I sing and I almost never lose the time or the beat

Adam- Any plans to collaborate with Chris Carrabba again? "So Long, So Long" was an amazing song as well as his cover of "Angels of the Silence".

I love Chris and I love Dashboard Confessional. I think my favorite album of theirs is the one that came AFTER the one I sang on (which was DUSK & SUMMER). The next album - ALTER THE ENDING - is a much harder gtr record, closer to the sound of A MARK, A MISSION, A BRAND, A SCAR but with even better songs in my opinion. He's just a great writer. His new band Twin Forks is pretty amazing too. Check them out

Mr.Duritz my entire family loves your music. we came out to the sandpoint show and absolutely loved it. I was just wondering what is your favorite song to perform?

Changes all the time. Lately, it's "Start Again"

I remember Staying up late to watch David Letterman when you were the musical guest. I cant recall another time when he was so impressed that he invited a guest back the next night. Was that planned? Ive always wondered that.

Anyway you come up with some powerfully lyrics.. Thanks for all the awesome times.

That's a secret

How do you score such hot women? I've heard it said that you claim that it is due to the fact that you love "eating pussy"... True?

(shrug)

Counting Crows has been my favorite band since I first bought "August and Everything After" as a high school student. Thank you for making such great music.

I have three questions:

1) Why did you take a long break after Hard Candy? I got used to buying your albums every few years, but it took a long time for you to come up with another one.

2) Why did you change your sound so much after This Desert Life? I felt like Hard Candy was a new direction for the band.

3) Have you considered more live albums like Across a Wire? The VH1 Storytellers CD from that set is my favorite Counting Crows performance ever. I love the way that you re-interpret your songs during life performances.

1) I was a wreck. 2) I feel like the sound changes fairly drastically every record but not because we try to change; just because we DO change (as does everyone) and the music reflects that. 3) We do lots of live albums. We record EVERYTHING so if something seems worth releasing; we release it

How did you and Ryan Adams come to be friends back in the old days? Also, do y'all still communicate often?

I met Ryan onstage at The Viper Room. We were singing and drinking together and he said 'Hey will you come sing on my <burp> album tmw?" and I said sure. Haven't seen him in awhile. One of the problems with my disorder is that I forget I'm close to people and I stop seeing them because I worry I don't really remember how I know them. It's hard to explain and that sounded like nonsense but it screws with my friends who live far away

I've seen you a few times when you performed with the Dutch band Bløf. I wonder how you look back on that time?

Thanks for doing the AMA!

I LOVE Blof. I was so happy to see them at our last gig in Amsterdam. They all came down. True friends and great musicians. Some of the best and wildest times of my life with those cats.

What do you think of Jimmie and Daniel and the Lion?

I think they're fucking amazing - also a lot of fun to be around. I can't wait til we're all back together living at my place for CMJ. There's a lot of juggling, drinking, playing music, and some really arcane geeky card games I don't understand that Jimmie always wins

What's been your favorite thing about working with the rest of the band?

I like the jazz of it. I love the collaboration and the way we make things better together

What happened to the Devil & Bunny shows? Will they ever return?

I'm sure they will

Hi Adam! Your cover of Big Yellow Taxi is one of my favorite songs of all time. What gave you the idea to cover a Joni Mitchell song?

I always had this idea for an acoustic hip-hop version of Big Yellow Taxi and that's what we recorded. The version on the radio was a remix Ron Fair did of that track.

I missed y'all in Chicago, how was the show?

I thought the Chicago show was killer.

Did you ever get a gray guitar?

My head is filled with grey guitars

And the NEW location for Devil and the Bunny shows during Jazz Fest is going to be...

Good (if unanswerable) question

You seem to speak your way through your songs in concert instead of sing them like you do on your albums, why?

I don't think I do. As far as I can tell, I'm always singing.

I have bought august and everything after at least 7 times, is there an album that whenever it gets lost or is no longer playable you must repurchase?

I have around 20 copies of Miles Davis KIND OF BLUE

You DO write great songs! No question - I just wanted to let you know that Hard Candy got me through a really tough break up in 2002. What a brilliant album! Thank you so much for your amazing music and lyrics.

It got me through one too

Very strange question but, do you have a cousin named Phoebe P. (little blonde girl from Maryland), she always brags to everyone how you guys are related but I kind of feel like she made it up lol.

Probably. Both my mom's parents came from families of 10 so I have 100's of cousins around Baltimore.

What do you think is the hardest part of being a famous musician? What part is the most satisfying for you?

"famous" is such a weird thing because it really only exists in the minds of people. It's not something you did so it can't really ever be satisfying. Not to me anyway. I'm proud of being a musician all this time. I'm proud of all our work.

mrs potters lullabye is my favorite song. thank you for it!

you're welcome

Hey! Thanks for the AMA!

What was your favourite song to write and why?

Don't really have one

Adam, huge fan of Counting Crows.

I remember in 2000 or so, you guys wrote a couple of songs for a movie (I forget the name of it) and played them at a concert which I have a bootleg of.

"Here Comes That Feeling Again" and "My Love" were the titles. They sounded awesome, and you said the band recorded them and was going to release them. I've never heard about them since. What ever happened to them?

Oh, and what about the song "Margery Dreams of Horses?" That's one of my favorites. Any plans to ever record that wonderful tune?

We recorded "Margery..." for both AUGUST & SATELLITES. We left it off both albums. I just don't think it worked.

What was one of the greatest moments in your music career?

lots of different things are very cool. I don't know. Life is rarely about one moment; it's a lot of moments

Hi Adam- Wow you have a lot of questions here. I just want to say thank you for all the wonderful years of songs- you are a true poet. Was curious if you like Sylvia Plath- I love her and you remind me of her sometimes (male version of course)? I love so many of your songs but I would have to say Recovering the Satellites is probably one of my faves, it just really speaks to me. Thanks for all you've done- can't tell you how many car rides I've spent listening to your music (some of my happiest and saddest moments were spent with you and that's pretty awesome) xoxo

I find Sylvia Plath very depressing and scary. Brilliant but...I don't want to end up like that.

Did you ever meet Christian Forrest, a piano player from Hendersonville, TN, who went to New Orleans to study music with Ellis Marsalis? I lost track of him after high school, but man was he an entertaining pianist.

I'm not sure.

Hey! I was at a gig of yours a few years back in Manchester. Now, I'd had a few beers so its a bit hazy, but I could have sworn you started talking about Elisabeth...Unfortunately the (even drunker) idiots next to me were talking too loud for me to hear what you were saying.

Later I met you and the band and you signed a fiver for me because I couldnt find my ticket. Never spent the fiver! Probably worth £5.50 now ;)

So I've always wanted to know....who is/was Elisabeth?

She was.

What are some of your favorite bands, songs or albums?

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Pedro The Lion, Nana Grizol, The Weepies, Field Report, Phoenix, Mean Creek

How much do you make a year?

Also, you're awesome.

Last year? Very little. It varies from year to year depending on what we're doing that year

How did you get involved in making Freeloaders? Had you know the Broken Lizard guys before the movie?

Some friends of mine wrote the script and one of them wanted to direct it. I wanted to help them out so we put the movie together. The Lizards were friends of friends. Now they're just friends. Although friends of mine and friends of theirs are still friends as well.

Throwback- but what was it like getting to work with T-Bone Burnett on your first record. The few pre-AAEA tracks that have floated around the internet are super grungy, and they transitioned into totally different songs. I'd love to hear about the experience of working with T-Bone on that.

Well, T-Bone is a genius when he's around. When he was present, he was instrumental in helping us become the band we are.

First off, you were/are my first musical crush, setting me up for a lifetime of dating singers, for better or for worse.

Anywho, what is your songwriting process with the Counting Crows -- do you write and they create the music, vice versa, or do all of you go step by step through a song?

We write all different ways but even when I bring in a song totally written, that's just a skeleton - chords and words. The work we do to turn that into a song we record is VERY collaborative. It's always a full band process in the end.

Hey, Adam, thanks for doing this AMA! I wanted to let you know that August and Everything After and Recovering the Satellites were two of the most influential albums for me when I was growing up. "Rain King" still brings a happy tear to my eye.

I have two questions: 1) Why is your hair so freaking awesome, and 2) Do you have any particular process when writing songs, or at least some advice for other songwriters?

1) It does its own thing 2) Just find something true and tell how you feel about it

Do you still have the hair?

yes. I've saved all of it over the years. I'm making a gigantic ball.

As a child of the 90s there is absolutely no one in music that I care about now. I kind of like AWOL Nation, but not really. Any bands that get you excited that I should be following?

Music now is WAY better or at least just as good. Check out Foreign Fields, Lucy Rose, Mean Creek, Filligar, Field Report, Nana Grizol, Visqueen, Best Coast, Jesse malign, Fort Frances, Tallahassee, Fantasmes, Maria Taylor, Sacco, Dawes, Hannah Cohen, Bodega Girls, Oldjack, Gentleman Hall, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit, Golden Bloom, Rocky Votolato. There are just soooooooooo many bands making great music right now

Hey Adam! I am a huge fan, and have been for years. I was wondering where you favorite place to play was? I have seen you at the Ryman in Nashville and at Miami University, both shows were amazing! Would you consider doing more college touring? Thanks for putting your heart out there in your music.

Love The Ryman but My favorite place to play BY FAR is The Greek Theatre in Berkeley.

Is there anything about El Paso you miss?

It was a great place to be a kid. Lots of vacant lots, spiders , and snakes.

If you were to continue performing for the next 30 years, how many more drummers do you think you would go through?

In my mind, we've mainly had 2 drummers in the band. Ben joined the band midway through our 1st year on tour and played for a decade before he retired to go home to Georgia and raise a family. Jim joined then and he's played for almost 10yrs now as well. Steve is a great drummer but he just wasn't in the band for a very long time.

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No, there's no catharsis. Songs don't really work that way.

Adam - Is it true you no longer have dreads and what we see at a kick-ass show is a wig? Mucho love either way!

no, that's not true

"Suffocate" was said to have been finished for Saturday Nights, and it was also recorded for RTS. Where are the recordings? And what about "Good Luck," we know a studio version of that also exists. Why will we never get to hear these songs properly recorded?

Suffocate was never finished. "Good Luck" and "Chelsea" were both taken for the play BLACK SUN a long time ago. I realized they weren't really CC songs soon after we left them off RECOVERING THE SATELLITES