Counting Crows' Adam Duritz talks legacy, burned CDs

Back in the ’90s, I burned music from my brother’s massive CD collection. He spent good, hard money on them, and we lived in the same house, so it was probably legal, right?

Some of my favorite “burns” were Counting Crows albums, particularly 1993’s “August and Everything After,” and 1996’s “Recovering the Satellites,” both massive hits for the band.

I confessed how I obtained these albums to lead singer Adam Duritz in a recent telephone interview in advance of the band’s Wednesday performance at the Spokane Arena.

“I think that cat is out of the bag,” Duritz said. “As long as you weren’t downloading them from the Internet.”

I would never do such a thing to a band I loved. Plus, our Internet was too slow.

By the time the Counting Crows released its 2002 album, “Hard Candy,” the Wilsons were sharing the music three ways — myself, my brother and my dad.

Duritz isn’t surprised by his band’s popularity across age gaps.

“We’ve always noticed that throughout our career, it’s age 6 to 60. It’s kids, their parents, their grandparents,” he said. “We were never really trying to be a part of anything. Our tastes as listeners always varied, whereas a lot of bands are trying to be like the last thing that was popular.”

(Legal note: I checked in advance of publishing this article, and it turns out I now own “official” copies of the albums in question — I bought a lot of used music at The Long Ear. Don’t come after me, Music Industry.)

Counting Crows have sold more than 20 million albums worldwide. Hits include “Mr. Jones,” “American Girls,” “Long December,” and a radio-dominating cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” Another huge hit, “Accidentally in Love,” featured on the soundtrack of “Shrek 2,” was nominated for an Academy Award.

More than 25 years together, the band has avoided most of the drama associated with mainstream success.

“From the very beginning, I was only concerned about keeping the band together,” Duritz said. “What I liked about my life was the band, and I wasn’t interested in being a solo artist or a bigger star.”

Money tends to be the thing that causes trouble, Duritz said, so the band made efforts to make everything even from the beginning.

“It’s really easy for anyone to do the math and figure out why they deserve more. There’s always a way to think there’s a reason you’re not getting enough, but if you think that way, you’re not going to have a band,” he said. “It’s 25 years later, and we’re still here. Nobody is furious at anybody else, and we always figured it out along the way.”

Wednesday’s concert, co-headlined by Matchbox Twenty, will feature a varied selection of Counting Crows tunes, as the band is known for frequent set list changes.

“We’re not big planners,” Duritz said. “It changes every night, and we usually make a set list around dinner time. We’ll get ideas from people but really we just make a set list of what we want to play, and it ends up representing every record well.”

The band is also known for their eclectic covers, even releasing a full album of cover tracks in 2012. Duritz said he loves celebrating both old and new music and sharing it with audiences who may be unfamiliar with it.

“There is just way more music out there, and even as music geeks, we’re never going to know everything,” he said. “We never really prioritize the songs we’ve covered. We find songs we love… most of the music is obscure; it’s not a priority to just do a big famous song.”

Counting Crows toured with Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas last summer. During the tour, they talked about working together again this summer, but this year’s tour didn’t really come together until last minute.

“Honestly it was so pleasant just hanging out with Rob last summer,” Duritz said. “We were trying to figure out something, but I didn’t think Matchbox was even going out this year.”

“We were attempting to plan it out and it didn’t happen. Then it just fell into place,” he said.

Spokane is the first date of the Counting Crows/Matchbox Twenty “A Brief History of Everything Tour.” Show starts at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Spokane Arena. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35-$85, available at the Spokane Arena box office, all TicketsWest outlets, online at TicketsWest.com or by calling (800) 325-SEAT.