Hi, everyone. Welcome to November & to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

When Van Morrison was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993, he did not appear at the ceremony. I do not remember why he was not there but I do remember he was inducted by Robbie Robertson of The Band. After his speech, he was joined by a singer named Adam Duritz for a guitar version of one of Morrison’s most fabulous songs, “Caravan“. It was nothing like Morrison’s exquisite original, but it was a fabulous cover nonetheless.

At the time this incredible performance was all I really knew about Duritz. But later that year he & his band, The Counting Crows, released their debut album August & Everything After. The first single, “Mr. Jones” was in heavy rotation on VH-1 and it was not a bad song. The video of the fast paced tune featured a lively & animated Duritz in a room with his bandmates. But it was the follow up single that I fell in love with. The video had great imagery but it was the heartbreaking lyrics about people struggling with life that made the bigger impact on me. And seeing the band perform this track on Letterman in early 1994 got me even more hooked on it.

Around the same time it earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. By their next album, 1996’s Recovering The Satellites, Duritz was dating “Friends” co-star Courtney Cox (who appeared in the video for “A Long December”) & The Counting Crows were one of the most successful bands of the decade. But it was the song he wrote pre-Counting Crows with bandmate David Bryson and members of another 1990’s band, The Himalayans, that will forever speak to me as a great piece of music.

“”Round here, she’s always on my mind
‘Round here, hey man, we got lots of time
‘Round here, we’re never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait”.

The Counting Crows circa 1996. Lead singer Adam Duritz is standing in the center. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Counting Crows: “‘Round Here” (1993, written by David Bryson, Adam Duritz, Dave Janusko, Dan Jewett and Chris Roldan).

Stay well.