’90s radio staples Counting Crows have been getting a whole lot of flowers lately; just think of the mutual appreciation that MJ Lenderman and Crows frontman Adam Duritz have for one another. Well, now the band is about to get more. HBO is premiering its new Counting Crows documentary tonight, and Azure Ray’s Maria Taylor has shared the Crows cover that she recorded with Dashboard Confessional.
Let’s start off with the HBO documentary. Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? comes to us from Hal director Amy Scott, by way of Bill Simmons’ Music Box series. It covers the band’s sudden rise to fame and their efforts to be taken seriously. Adam Duritz and his bandmates appear in the film alongside luminaries like Cyndi Lauper, Mary-Louise Parker, Warriors coach Steve Kerr, comedian Jeff Ross, and my homeboy Rob Harvilla. In the trailer, Coldplay Chris Martin says that he bought one of Duritz’s dreadlocks on eBay.
Also! Maria Taylor, singer-songwriter and one half of the duo Azure Ray, has shared her version of “Colorblind,” a Counting Crows song that originally appeared on 1999’s Cruel Intentions soundtrack. Taylor recorded her cover as a birthday present for Adam Duritz a few years ago, and it features Dashboard Confessional mastermind Chris Carraba, a good friend of Duritz. Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional toured together and collaborated onstage regularly in 2003. Here’s what Taylor says about the cover:
A couple of years ago, as a birthday present to Adam Duritz, a group of friends decided to cover a few of his songs. Chris Carrabba and I met at Adam’s New York apartment years ago. We kept in touch and talked about collaborating someday. I texted Chris and told him that I was going to cover my favorite Counting Crows song, “Colorblind,” and asked if he would want to sing it with me. He thought it was a great idea! That same night, I went into my little home studio and recorded the dreamy guitars and vocals.
I asked my good friend Mike Bloom to take it over from there and produce it. Chris sang it a week later, and we finished it just in time to give to Adam for his birthday! Recently, I came across this track and was reminded of how much I love it. I love the song, the production, and collaborating for the first time with Chris. I really love how our voices sound together. And to package it up beautifully, my friend (and artist) Alvaro Ilizarbe let me use his amazing art as the single cover. It was a collaborative project from start to finish.
The “Colorblind” cover is Maria Taylor’s first solo release in a few years, and she’s got more coming next year. Check out her version and the Counting Crows original below.
It’s notable, perhaps, that Maria Taylor didn’t cover “A Long December,” the 1996 Counting Crows classic that’s become a standard, especially this time of year. But don’t worry! Someone else did! Last night during Kate Barlant’s event at the LA club Largo, MUNA’s Katie Gavin and Naomi McPherson played their version of “A Long December.”
To celebrate the HBO doc, Counting Crows recently released a bunch of merch for their second album, 1996’s Recovering The Satellites. They’ve also got a new “Colorblind” mug, even though the song wasn’t on that album.
