The Story of Mr Jones: The Way Counting Crows Produced Their Iconic Track

The Lead Singer Remembers the Early Days

The initial four records were primarily recorded in houses located in the foothills above Los Angeles. August and Everything After signified a significant milestone for the group, as it was their first 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 country music. Also, I was into a Benny Goodman album that my father had acquired as a complimentary item at a gas station during my childhood.

Mr Jones was included on a demo tape that we submitted to record companies, but it proved a challenging song to finish. We didn’t have a solid grasp at first. Neither a leisurely tune or a straight ahead rock song; instead, it gallops along, requiring a deep understanding to play. The style is soulful – more akin to the Memphis soul sound than country.

Our drummer struggled to grasp the song as the rest of us did – so the producer brought in one of his idols to perform on it.

We looked at a few production candidates, but when I discussed things with the producer, he seemed to get where the band was headed. There was great potential, but I wasn’t satisfied with our sound – we hadn’t learned how to be a band. Eliminated all the synths and guitar effects. Our drummer Steve Bowman couldn’t sync with the song’s rhythm, so the producer called in Denny Fongheiser, one of Steve’s heroes, to lay down the drums. Looking back, it’s amusing, but it was hard on Steve back then.

My best friend Marty and I performed in groups together before Counting Crows. Marty’s dad, David Serva, had succeeded in Spain and was returning in the San Francisco area performing a tour. Attended one of his shows and hung out with the flamenco troupe visiting bars. Next day, I went home and wrote Mr Jones. It’s about me and Marty that night, dreaming we were cool musicians so we could connect with the girls more easily.

In my view, it’s one of the best songs I’ve composed. After playing another track on SNL in 1994, the album climbed dozens of positions each week for over a month. Afterwards, Mr Jones turned into a huge hit.

David Immerglück Shares 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 offshoot band called Monks of Doom.

One evening, I found Adam with a fresh recording he’d created with the guitarist. He played me this song titled the now-famous tune. It was done with a basic drum machine that sounded like a video game or random noise, but his singing were on another level.

Once T Bone got involved, it felt like a complete transformation of Counting Crows. They shifted toward roots echoing folk and soul legends.

Adam called me asking, “Hey, man, can you come down and contribute to this record?” By the time I got there, the producer had relocated us to a recording space in Encino, Los Angeles – formerly used by a Jackson 5 member. Inside, we found guitars that Dylan had just recorded on.

He told me to play my guitar behind the tempo the beat. His words were, “Playing too fast before the drums comes off like an adolescent hurrying.” With his southern accent, and his advice was to visualize putting your feet up on the mixing board and chewing gum during the performance.

Counting Crows was, to an extent, a reaction to grunge. The tragic end of Cobain felt like the culmination. At the time, everyone were on heroin. The goal was self-destruction, not mind expansion. The nihilism had gone too far, and the pendulum swung toward something more human and sincere. Their music combined folk and rock with a strong influence of Van Morrison soul.

Mr Jones never gets old. Sometimes, when performing with the singer, I recall that time when he played me the early version. Absolutely incredible.