Counting Crows Take Flight Again

"Sunday Mornings isn't about being better," Duritz said. It's really about when a person has wrecked his life for so long and doesn't know how to fix it, but wants to do so."

As with all the songs he writes, Duritz's tunes on the record are all about him, but it has nothing to do with hubris or an intense need for introspection.

"I'm the only one living here with me," he said. "I don't know what else to write about. They're all about how I feel about being me. I don't know too much about anybody else."

Duritz has penned songs about friends and former loves, but never about a concept.

"I could never write a protest song," Duritz said. For him, he said, feelings produce songs and then concepts; concepts don't produce songs.

A Band of Brothers

Duritz's journey with the Crows is nearly two decades long. The band, which includes David Immerglück, David Bryson, Jim Bogios, Charles Gillingham, Millard Powers and Dan Vickrey, has been together for 18 years.

In an artistically eclectic decade filled with iconic melodies, the Counting Crows achieved stardom on a grunge-heavy 1990s musical scene. The same year flannel shirts, Seattle, ratty hair and gangster rap had a stranglehold on the pop culture landscape, the alternative rock San Francisco-based band released its debut album and shot to the No. 2 spot with "Mr. Jones."

The tale – about two struggling artists who search for fame in order to be loved – became a Top 40 staple in 1994 and even surpassed R&B piper R. Kelly's "Bump 'n Grind."

Today, after several hit singles and millions of record sales, the Crows still are like brothers, despite their success.

"We do this together," the singer said. "They know how much I respect them. We don't have ego problems in our band."

"The proof is in the pudding," he added. "No one has ever quit our band."

But former band member Ben Mize did retire from the group after deciding he wanted to have a family, Duritz said. The two remain close and speak often.