The Making of Mr Jones: The Way Counting Crows Developed Their Iconic Track

The Lead Singer Shares the Beginnings

Our first albums were mostly produced in houses located in the hills above Los Angeles. August and Everything After signified a major milestone for the group, as it was their inaugural release on a major label. We each received an advance of $3,000; I used mine to buy a 1971 cherry red VW Karmann Ghia and traveled to LA.

Every morning, my routine included by playing Pickin’ Up the Pieces by Poco, which resembles the Beatles venturing into country music. Also, I frequently played a jazz record that my dad had picked up as a complimentary item at a gas station when I was young.

The song Mr Jones was included on a demo that we sent to labels, but it proved a very difficult track to complete. We didn’t have a clear direction at first. Neither a leisurely tune nor a straight ahead number; instead, it moves with a rhythm, demanding a real feel to play. The style is soulful – more akin to the Memphis soul style than folk.

The band’s drummer struggled to grasp the track as the rest of us did – so T Bone enlisted one of his heroes to play it.

We looked at several production candidates, but when I discussed things with the producer, he really understand where the band was at. We had 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 had trouble with the song’s rhythm, so T Bone called in Denny Fongheiser, one of Steve’s heroes, to lay down the drums. Looking back, it’s amusing, but it was tough on Steve back then.

Marty Jones and I had played in bands together prior to Counting Crows. His father, a flamenco musician, had succeeded in Spain and was back in the San Francisco area doing a tour. Attended one of his performances and hung out with the flamenco troupe visiting bars. The next morning, I went home and composed Mr Jones. It’s about me and Marty that evening, wishing we were cool musicians so we could talk to the girls more confidently.

I believe, it’s one of the best songs I’ve composed. After playing Round Here on Saturday Night Live in 1994, the record jumped dozens of positions weekly for five or six weeks. Afterwards, the song turned into a major success.

David Immerglück Recalls His Memories

In the late 1980s, Adam, David Bryson, and I were living together in a warehouse complex in Berkeley. Previously, I performed with another band and had an side project named Monks of Doom.

One evening, Adam had a new demo he’d created with Bryson. I heard this track titled Mr Jones. Recorded with a Dr Rhythm pocket drum machine that sounded like a arcade sound or random noise, but his singing were exceptional.

After the producer got involved, it felt like a total reinvention of Counting Crows. They shifted toward roots echoing folk and soul legends.

Adam called me asking, “Hey, man, can you join us and play on this album?” By the time I got there, T Bone had moved us to a studio in LA’s Encino – formerly used by Tito Jackson. Inside, we found instruments that Bob Dylan had just recorded on.

He told me to perform slightly behind the beat. He said, “Playing too fast before the drums comes off like an teenager hurrying.” He has a Texas drawl, and his advice was to visualize relaxing on the console and staying casual during the performance.

The band was, in some ways, a response to the grunge movement. Kurt Cobain’s death seemed the culmination. Back then, many used heroin. The goal was obliteration, not mind expansion. The nihilism had gone too far, and the trend shifted toward something emotional and sincere. Their music combined acoustic and electric with a heavy dose of Van Morrison soul.

The song never gets old. Sometimes, when performing with the singer, I remember that time when he played me the early version. Absolutely incredible.