The Making of Mr Jones: The Way Counting Crows Produced Their Iconic Song

The Lead Singer Recalls the Beginnings

Our first albums were primarily produced in houses situated in the hills above Los Angeles. Their debut major label album signified a major step for the band, as it was their first release on a major label. We each got an advance of $3,000; with it, I to buy a 1971 cherry red VW Karmann Ghia and drove it to LA.

Each day, I would start by playing a Poco track, which sounds like the Beatles venturing into country music. Also, I frequently played a jazz record that my dad had acquired as a complimentary item at a gas station when I was young.

The song Mr Jones was part of a demo that we submitted to record companies, but it was a challenging track to complete. It lacked a solid grasp at first. Neither a slow ballad nor a straight ahead rock song; rather, it moves with a rhythm, demanding a deep understanding to perform. The style is soulful – more akin to the Memphis soul sound than folk.

The band’s drummer struggled to grasp the song as the others did – thus the producer enlisted one of his heroes to perform on it.

We considered several producers, but when I discussed things with T Bone Burnett, he seemed to understand where the band was at. We had great potential, but I wasn’t satisfied with our overall tone – we hadn’t learned how to work together. We removed 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 favorites, to lay down the drums. It’s a funny story, but it was hard on Steve at the time.

My best friend Marty and I had played in groups together prior to Counting Crows. Marty’s dad, a flamenco musician, had succeeded in Spain and was returning in the San Francisco area doing a tour. Attended one of his shows and spent the night with the musicians bar-hopping. The next morning, I went home and composed the song. It’s about our experience that night, wishing we were accomplished artists so we could connect with the women more confidently.

In my view, it’s among the finest pieces I’ve ever written. We performed Round Here on SNL in 1994, the album climbed 40 spots weekly for over a month. Afterwards, the song turned into a major success.

The Multi-Instrumentalist Recalls His Perspective

In the late 1980s, the band members were living together in a warehouse complex in Berkeley. I had been playing with another band and had an side project named Monks of Doom.

Returning home one night, Adam had a fresh recording he’d just done with Bryson. I heard this song titled Mr Jones. Recorded with a Dr Rhythm pocket drum machine that resembled a arcade sound or random noise, but his vocals were exceptional.

After the producer got involved, it was a complete transformation of Counting Crows. They shifted toward roots echoing folk and soul legends.

I got a call from Adam saying, “Hey, man, can you come down and contribute to this record?” When I arrived, T Bone had moved us to a recording space in Encino, Los Angeles – formerly used by Tito Jackson. Inside, we found guitars that Bob Dylan had just recorded on.

T Bone instructed me to play my guitar slightly behind the beat. He said, “If you rush before the drums comes off like an teenager hurrying.” He has a Texas drawl, and his advice was to visualize putting your feet up on the console and staying casual while playing.

Counting Crows was, in some ways, a reaction to grunge. Kurt Cobain’s death seemed the final act. Back then, many were on heroin. The goal was self-destruction, not enlightenment. That negativity had reached an extreme, and the pendulum swung toward something emotional and heartfelt. Their music combined folk and rock with a heavy dose of Van Morrison soul.

Mr Jones never gets old. On stage, when performing with the singer, I remember that moment when he first shared the early version. It’s insane.