I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt

Adam Duritz

Adam Duritz But maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song And who do I think that I am to decide that she’s wrong? —TVZ, “For the Sake of the Song,” from For the Sake of the Song A dam Duritz, born August 1, 1964, in Baltimore, Maryland, and Counting Crows earn day wages as a popular modern rock band deeply influenced by folk and country songwriters . In concert, Counting Crows has performed songs written by such Americana artists as Steve Earle (“Fearless Heart,” “CCKMP”), John Hiatt (“Crossing Muddy Waters”), and Townes Van Zandt (“Pancho Adam Duritz, Wilmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ, August 17, 2010. Courtesy Michael J. Trojan. 172 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG and Lefty”). Lead singer Duritz, who lived an itinerant youth traveling between Boston, Los Angeles, and Houston, before settling in Northern California in the early 1980s, most appreciates Van Zandt’s craftsmanship .“Townesisaperfectsongwriter,”Duritzsays.“There’sacraftthere and perfection that he instills in writing songs. It’s like a graduate class in songwriting.”1 Counting Crows earned immediate recognition with the debut album AugustandEverythingAfter(1993),alyricallydownbeatcollectionproduced by Fort Worth, Texas, native T-Bone Burnett. (Burnett himself became particularly influential for his work on film soundtracks during the followingdecade ,includingOBrother,WhereArtThou?andCrazyHeart,among others.) August and Everything After infuses Duritz’s somber storytelling into neighboring musical styles, including folk (“Omaha,” “Anna Begins ”)androck(“RainKing,”“AMurderofOne”).Thealbum’sidealistic and upbeat hit single “Mr. Jones,” which outlines Duritz’s desire to be a famous musician, turned a dream into reality and single-handedly launched the Berkeley, California, band to stardom. Counting Crows went on to become one of the most commercially successful groups of the past two decades. August and Everything After has soldmorethansevenmillioncopies,andthebandhasnearlytripledthat number in total with albums such as Recovering the Satellites (1996), This DesertLife(1999),andthegreatesthitscollection FilmsaboutGhosts(2003), which includes radio staples such as “A Long December,” “Hanginaround ,”and“AmericanGirls.”2 CountingCrowswonaGrammyAward for the song “Accidentally in Love,” from the soundtrack to the movie Shrek (2004). Adam Duritz claims to struggle from a mental illness that influences his songwriting and impacts his personal life, which has included romances with actresses Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Emmy Rossum. “I have a mental illness, andIamwritinghonestsongs about it. They’re just honest songs about my life,” says the singer, who wears dreadlocked hair extensions and dresses flamboyantly onstage. “A dissociative disorder makes it impossible to attach to the world and ADAM DurITz 173 relate to people.” 3 Duritz says that coping with the illness might have been responsible for the six-year gap between Counting Crows albums Hard Candy (2002), which includes a popular rendition of Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi,” and Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008). Counting Crows split with Geffen Records in 2009 after eighteen years. Duritz suggests that the band might release future albums on its own record label and rely on online promotion.4 “The Internet is the best thing that has ever happened to music in the history of music,” he says. “It’s just not necessarily the best thing that’s happened to record companies.”5 The same year, Counting Crows began its ongoing Traveling Circus and Medicine Show tour with Michael Franti and Spearhead and Augustana. Similar to Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1970, the Traveling Circus rotates its cast of performers throughout each concert. “We can do massive amounts of harmony,” Duritz says. “To the fullest extent of the law, we prosecute the harmony.”6 • • • Adam Duritz CountingCrowsrecordedTownesVanZandt’s“FortheSakeoftheSong” on the Under the Covers album. We did fourteen songs one weekend, and that was the album with the remixed acoustic hip-hop version of “Big YellowTaxi.”IloveTownes,butthere’ssomethingsospecialandunique about him. I don’t know how to say it, really. Not that Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard didn’t kill “Pancho and Lefty,” because they did. It’s a great version of that song. I like covering songs, but somehow I can’t quite step in Townes’s shoes—or it feels like I shouldn’t. It’s like there’s only one guy who should step in those shoes, and maybe you make an exception for Willie and Merle. Iget“FortheSakeoftheSong,”andIcanfeelwhathe’stalkingabout. But me singing it isn’t the same thing somehow. I’m good at putting myself in other people’s shoes, and I think I’m good at making songs my...