WTTS In Conversation – Adam Duritz of Counting Crows

WTTS In Conversation’ is a bi-weekly podcast delivering decades of WTTS interviews with music legends and emerging artists.


For Episode #61, Morning host Matt Pelsor asks Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz about a great “lost” Counting Crows song that only exists on the end credits of the movie Rounders. He also asks Adam about his focus on the sequence of songs on Counting Crows albums, and the songs that were casualties of that obsession. Adam also shares the great rock & roll story about the recording of “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby.”

Counting Crows play TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park on June 17th.

Find “WTTS In Conversation” here.

Counting Crows SHARE power of live music at WTTS Rock On The River

Adam Duritz, right, performs with Counting Crows band mates Dan Vickrey, left, and Jim Bogios during Tuesday’s Rock On The River show at TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park. / Dave Lindquist photo

Adam Duritz isn’t taking his return to touring for granted.

Leading Counting Crows through a career-spanning WTTS Rock On The River show Tuesday night, Duritz beamed in his role of focused, animated and good-natured storyteller.

The vocalist said Indiana’s humid weather didn’t bother him because it enhanced the feeling of being close to one another after so many months of isolation. Duritz also mentioned that being idle during the pandemic spurred him to start a Cameo profile for selling personalized videos ($150, if you’re interested). And he joked that getting back to singing detailed tunes such as “Round Here” made him resolve “to be less wordy with lyrics.”

Fortunately for listeners, it’s too late to trim the word count of “Bobby and the Rat-Kings” from current Counting Crows EP “Butter Miracle, Suite One.” As a descendent of knotty Bruce Springsteen classics “Rosalita,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Spirit in the Night,” “Bobby and the Rat-Kings” vividly describes “some leather-wrapped Fender-strapped kid with a pick-finger twitch. He’s got a recipe for radio or rain; I don’t know which.”

In tandem with current hit “Elevator Boots,” “Bobby and the Rat-Kings” provided a theme of rock ’n’ roll dreams and realities for Tuesday’s performance. A fan is obsessed with music within the tale of “Bobby and the Rat-Kings,” and Bobby is depicted as doing what he can to survive life on the road on the expertly crafted “Elevator Boots.”

92.3 WTTS morning host Matt Pelsor captures an onstage selfie with Tuesday’s good-looking crowd at WTTS Rock On The River presented by Arni’s Restaurant.

Elsewhere, Counting Crows reached back to 2002’s “If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)” for a message of rock ’n’ roll mortality. Of course, the song that started it all for Counting Crows, “Mr. Jones,” is a wish for fame that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The packed house at the newly renovated TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park knew it would be a crowd-pleasing night when Counting Crows performed “Round Here” and “Mr. Jones” as the first and third songs of the program.

Guitarists David Immergluck and Dan Vickrey and keyboard player Charlie Gillingham excelled at creating a big sound to accompany Duritz’s storytelling, with Vickrey supplying a particularly fierce Telecaster solo at the conclusion of “Recovering the Satellites.”

It’s worth noting Tuesday’s show served as the first “back to concerts” moment for many in the audience, and the venue all but levitated with joy during sing-along favorite “Rain King.”

One reason Duritz is coming up with strong material 28 years after the release of breakthrough album “August and Everything After” may be because he’s comparing notes with emerging songwriters such as Sean Barna and Matt Sucich – the supporting acts on Tuesday’s bill.

Philadelphia-based Barna has a strong grasp of ingredients heard in early-Springsteen epics, adding a dash of Lou Reed’s wild side expertise. Barna closed his set with “Modern Man,” from 2018 EP “Cissy”: “Sing the good songs, do the good drugs, turn the news off and love, love, love. I’m a modern man.”

The endearing Sucich won over listeners with the song “Saturn” from 2019 album “Thousand Dollar Dinners.” A slacker’s guide to not taking things too seriously, “Saturn” offers an answer to the question of what are you doing with your life: “It depends, because it’s all relative.”

Tuesday’s Counting Crows setlist

  1. “Round Here”
  2. “Scarecrow”
  3. “Mr. Jones”
  4. “Colorblind”
  5. “Omaha”
  6. “If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)”
  7. “Recovering the Satellites”
  8. “Miami”
  9. “God of Ocean Tides”
  10. “Big Yellow Taxi” (Joni Mitchell cover)
  11. “Washington Square”
  12. “The Tall Grass”
  13. “Elevator Boots”
  14. “Angel of 14th Street”
  15. “Bobby and the Rat-Kings”
  16. “Rain King”
  17. “A Long December”
    Encore
  18. “Hanginaround”
  19. “Holiday in Spain”

WTTS Rock On The River

We were introduced to their music 3 decades ago. Now, they are bringing the magic of their music to Indianapolis for an event that won’t soon be forgotten.

It’s WTTS Rock on the River with Counting Crows presented by Arni’s Restaurant.

WTTS Rock on the River, Tuesday, August 17th at TCU Amphitheatre at White River State Park. Tickets on sale now. A portion of the proceeds benefit Indiana Wish.

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WTTS In conversation – Adam Duritz of Counting Crows

WTTS In Conversation’ is a bi-weekly podcast delivering decades of WTTS interviews with emerging and legendary artists.
Episode #8, available now, features a conversation with Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. He talked with me about the new EP “Butter Miracle Suite One,” as well as their approach to live shows, and his decision to cut his famous dreadlocks.

Find “WTTS In Conversation”, supported by Technology Recyclershere.

New Music Monday 5/10/21

Mondays begin with WTTS New Music Monday. We play a variety of brand new releases and album previews. Hear the anthems of the future and experience upcoming artists as they break into the mainstream for the first time on New Music Monday.

The Icelandic band, Kaleo have released their third studio album, Surface Sounds!

This week experience new music from:

Kaleo: Break My Baby

Counting Crows: Elevator Boots 

Jon Batiste: I Need You

New Music Monday 5/3/21

Mondays begin with WTTS New Music Monday. We play a variety of brand new releases and album previews. Hear the anthems of the future and experience upcoming artists as they break into the mainstream for the first time on New Music Monday.

Counting Crows just released their first new music in 7 years. A 4-track album, Butter Miracle, Suite One is out on May 21st!

This week experience new music from:

Counting Crows: Elevator Boots 

Kaleo: Break My Baby

Alice Merton: Vertigo 

WTTS Rock To Read Day

R2R_NEW3

Design by Natalie Warner

Since 2006, WTTS has hosted our annual Rock To Read concert series.  This series was created in effort to raise money and awareness for children’s reading programs at the Indianapolis Public Library.  Along with Jackomo Upper Crust Pizza,Live Nation, and other partners, over $112,000 has been raised, including $25,000 from the 2014 Rock To Read concerts (Jackson Browne, Ryan Adams, Counting Crows and The Jayhawks). In a nod to Rock To Read, the Indianapolis Public Library will introduce Beatz & Bookz, a musically-themed summer reading program, in which some 58,000 local children are expected to participate.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has recognized these efforts and is proclaiming June 1, 2015 WTTS Rock To Read Day in the city of Indianapolis. We are immensely grateful for this historic honor, and would like to thank Mayor Ballard, the Public Library, and the city of Indianapolis.  You can read (and hear) the full proclamation below.

Jackson Browne

Hear Mayor Greg Ballard’s proclamation.

[podcast]https://www.wttsfm.com/audio/MayorBallard.mp3[/podcast]

 

CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

PROCLAMATION

TO ALL WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETINGS:

WHEREAS, 92.3 WTTS is a locally owned and operated radio station committed to enhancing the cultural climate of Indianapolis through world class rock music programming and community events; and

WHEREAS, WTTS, in conjunction with Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, Live Nation and other partners, has hosted annual Rock to Read concerts and other fundraisers since 2006 to benefit local children’s reading initiatives of the Indianapolis Public Library; and

WHEREAS, WTTS organizes the Rock to Read concerts and selects popular artists, including Los Lonely Boys, The Kooks, Collective Soul, Chris Isaak and Jackson Browne, to raise awareness and more than $100,000 to date for children’s reading programs at the Library; and

WHEREAS, in recognition of WTTS and its partners’ generous support of children’s literacy, the Library will present a music-themed 2015 summer reading program, Beatz & Bookz, where nearly 58,000 children and their parents will spend their summer reading together; and

WHEREAS, the City of Indianapolis commends 92.3 WTTS’s commitment and dedication to our community and children’s literacy;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GREGORY A. BALLARD, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM JUNE 1, 2015, AS:

92.3 WTTS ROCK TO READ DAY

In the City of Indianapolis, and I ask all citizens to join me in this observation.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I HAVE HEREUNTO SET MY HAND AND CAUSED TO BE AFFIXED THE SEAL OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS ON THIS 6TH DAY OF MAY IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN.

GREGORY A. BALLARD
MAYOR
CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

mayor

WTTS Top 50 Songs Of 2014: Part 2

Top 50 of 2014
We continue our 2014 countdown with numbers 40 through 31…

40. Kings Of Leon – “Temple”

39. U2 – “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)”

38. Train – “Angel In Blue Jeans”

37. Jake Bugg – “Lightning Bolt”

36. Foster The People – “Coming Of Age”

35. Counting Crows – “Scarecrow”

34. Cage The Elephant – “Take It Or Leave It”

33. U2 – “Invisible”

32. St. Paul & The Broken Bones – “Call Me”

31. Fitz and the Tantrums – “The Walker”

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