Counting Crows

Counting Crows are a rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991, led by vocalist Adam Duritz alongside guitarist David Bryson, bassist Matt Malley, drummer Steve Bowman (later Ben Mize), keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, and guitarist Dan Vickrey. One of the defining acts of mid-1990s alternative rock, they combined the introspective, literary singer-songwriter tradition with a rootsy, Van Morrison and R.E.M.-influenced rock sound that made their debut one of the decade's most celebrated records. Having gained attention through demo recordings circulated in the San Francisco Bay Area, they signed to DGC Records and released *August And Everything After* (1993), produced by T Bone Burnett. The album was an immediate success — anchored by 'Mr. Jones,' a wistful, self-aware song about ambition and desire, and the heartbreaking 'Round Here' — and sold over seven million copies in the US alone. Duritz's dreadlocked, emotionally raw stage presence and confessional writing about depression, loneliness, and the gap between expectation and experience made him one of the decade's most distinctive rock figures. *Recovering the Satellites* (1996) debuted at number one, and *This Desert Life* (1999) continued their commercial standing. *Hard Candy* (2002) produced the unexpected global hit 'Big Yellow Taxi' (a cover of Joni Mitchell) which reached the top ten worldwide. *Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings* (2008) was a deliberately bifurcated concept record. Duritz's public discussions of dissociative disorder and depression — conditions he has managed throughout his career — have made him an important figure in the conversation about mental health in music, and his candour about the relationship between his psychological experiences and his songwriting has given the Counting Crows catalogue a depth of biographical context unusual in mainstream rock.