Their hit singles include the aforementioned "Mr. Jones" as well as "Rain King", "A Long December", "Hanginaround", and a cover version of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi".

The band name is derived from "One for Sorrow", a British divination nursery rhyme about the superstitious counting of magpies, which are members of the crow family.

Singer Adam Duritz heard the rhyme in the film Signs of Life, which starred his close friend, actress Mary-Louise Parker.

In April, the band—which, by that time, included other members—"signed a deal with Gersh and Geffen believed to be so lucrative that industry wags dubbed them Accounting Crows".

[12] On January 16, 1993,[13][better source needed] the band, still relatively unknown, filled in for Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, and was introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson.

Counting Crows eschewed the trend, happily wearing their time-stamped influences like Van Morrison and The Band on their patchwork sleeves, and found an audience who agreed with them.

The band toured extensively in 1993 and 1994, both as headliners and in supporting roles with other artists, including the Rolling Stones, Cracker, the Cranberries, Suede, Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Jellyfish, and Midnight Oil.

A response to the sudden fame that "Mr. Jones" had brought, it contains lyrics such as "These days I feel like I'm fading away / Like sometimes when I hear myself on the radio" (from "Have You Seen Me Lately?")

[29] After nine months of near-constant touring in support of the album, Duritz developed nodules on his vocal cords in July 1997, leading to the cancellation of a number of gigs.

[30][31] After taking time off to recover, the band toured for the rest of 1997, concluding with a MTV show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

[33] Later that same year, the band released This Desert Life, sales of which were propelled by the success of "Hanginaround" and "Colorblind", which was also featured in the movie Cruel Intentions.

Vanessa Carlton contributed backing vocals to the single edit of the track, which appeared on the soundtrack for Two Weeks Notice and was re-released on future Hard Candy albums.

Hard Candy received better reviews than the previous efforts, with "radio friendly" songs, like "American Girls" (which featured Sheryl Crow on backing vocals), and contains a more upbeat feel and tempo.

[35] Midway through the Hard Candy tour, drummer Ben Mize (born February 2, 1971, Durham, North Carolina) amicably left the band to spend more time with his family and pursue his own musical interests.

After Mize completed the American leg of the tour, he was replaced by Jim Bogios, formerly a drummer with Ben Folds and Sheryl Crow.

"[42] Amidst touring in the summer of 2007, the band performed live before the Home Run Derby at the 2007 MLB All-Star Game on July 9, 2007.

[44] On July 22 they previewed two new songs at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware, a new ballad titled "Washington Square" and a hard rocking track called "Cowboys".

[45] In September 2007, Counting Crows played a unique show at Town Hall in New York City, during which it performed all the tracks from August and Everything After in album order.

He ended the post with a free download of the band's cover of Madonna's "Borderline", recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2003.

Acts as diverse as Yellow House Orchestra, Seán Barna, Mikaela Davis, Marcy Playground, Matt Sucich, Stephen Kellogg, Stew and the Negro Problem, and Fairhazel have appeared.

In January 2019, Counting Crows released a newly recorded version of "August and Everything After" performed with the London Symphony Orchestra at AIR Studios.

The band began studio sessions in late February and early March on four songs that complete the first suite: "The Tall Grass", "Elevator Boots",[66] "The Angel of 14th Street", and "Bobby and the Rat Kings".

[67] Mott the Hoople, Thin Lizzy, and Seán Barna's album, CISSY, were cited as influences on original demos of the songs as Duritz was writing, though the final recordings will likely not sound similar.

[68] During the COVID-19 pandemic, without touring, without being able to work on music in the studio, and taking a hiatus from his podcast, Duritz began hosting cooking videos through his Instagram stories.

[69] Speaking with chef Tyler Florence, Duritz said the type of research he would do regarding music for the podcast he turned into exploring more about food and cooking to share with others.

[61] "Elevator Boots" was released as the first single for the four-track EP in April 2021, described by Rolling Stone as "a melodic, wistful ode to life on tour, with a sound that somehow manages to bridge the gap between the Band and Mott the Hoople.

He believed that the initial songwriting was not strong enough, so decided to rewrite those songs and add an additional composition; recording for the follow-up could only happen once the band was done with touring.

[72] In April 2023, the band returned to Australia and New Zealand for a series of headlining shows, with English musician Frank Turner supporting them.

[78][14][79][80] Several Counting Crows songs have been altered during the band's live performances, such as "Round Here", "Goodnight Elisabeth", "Rain King", and "A Murder of One".

[81][better source needed] In February 2011, Duritz released an indie album of cover songs he had recorded entitled All My Bloody Valentines.