Adam Duritz writes the lyrics on nearly every Counting Crows song. The music is written collectively by the band, so songwriting credits usually list Duritz alongside whichever bandmates contributed the music on that particular track.
By the Numbers
8
Studio Albums
99
Tracks Credited
83%
Self-Written
20 million+
Records Sold
35
Years Active
66
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 82 / 99 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 99 tracks: how many Counting Crows wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
Counting Crows has a writing credit83%
64%
19%
17%
Sole author63tracks64%
Co-written19tracks19%
Outside writers17tracks17%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
Counting Crows's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 99 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)83%
Composer (music)83%
Producer17%
Performer100%
Member Credit Breakdown share of tracks each member is credited on
Percentage of all 99 tracks, across every album, where each member holds a credit - split by role.
Member
Period
Lyrics
Music
Production
Performance
Adam Duritz
1991-present
82%
81%
0%
100%
David Bryson
1991-present
0%
10%
0%
83%
Charlie Gillingham
1991-present
10%
7%
0%
100%
Dan Vickrey
1994-present
7%
18%
0%
89%
David Immerglück
1999-present
6%
12%
0%
78%
Jim Bogios
2002-present
0%
0%
0%
47%
Millard Powers
2005-present
0%
5%
0%
47%
Matt Malley Former
1991-2005
1%
4%
0%
51%
Steve Bowman Former
1991-1994
0%
1%
0%
11%
Ben Mize Former
1994-2002
0%
2%
0%
41%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
Counting Crows's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 83%
100%
100%
100%
93%
100%
6%
100%
100%
1993August and Everything After
1996Recovering the Satellites
1999This Desert Life
2002Hard Candy
2008Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
2012Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation)
2014Somewhere Under Wonderland
2025Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
Early · 100% written
Mid · 62% written
Late · 100% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
100%
1990s
August and Everything After, Recovering the Satellites +1 more
96%
2000s
Hard Candy, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
38%
2010s
Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation), Somewhere Under Wonderland
100%
2020s
Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where Counting Crows sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
Counting Crows
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, David Lynn Bryson
Wrote it
Round Here
August and Everything After
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, David Lynn Bryson, Chris Roldan, Dan Jewett, Dave Janusko
Co-wrote
Rain King
August and Everything After
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, David Lynn Bryson
Wrote it
Angels of the Silences
Recovering the Satellites
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, Charles Gillingham
Co-wrote
A Long December
Recovering the Satellites
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz
Wrote it
Daylight Fading
Recovering the Satellites
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, Daniel Vickrey, Charles Gillingham
Co-wrote
Hanginaround
This Desert Life
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, Benjamin Mize, Daniel Vickrey, David Lynn Bryson
Co-wrote
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby
This Desert Life
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz
Wrote it
All My Friends
This Desert Life
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz
Wrote it
American Girls
Hard Candy
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz
Wrote it
Miami
Hard Candy
Written by Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, Adam Fredric Duritz, Charles Thomas Gillingham, David A. Immerglück
Wrote it
Big Yellow Taxi
Hard Candy
Written by Joni Mitchell, Roberta Joan Anderson
Outside writers
If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)
Hard Candy
Written by Adam Duritz, Dan Vickrey, David Immerglück, Charlie Gillingham, Matt Malley, Adam Fredric Duritz, Daniel J. Vickrey, David A. Immerglück, Charles Thomas Gillingham, Matthew Mark Malley
Co-wrote
You Can't Count On Me
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz
Wrote it
Come Around
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Written by Adam Duritz, Dan Vickrey, Adam Fredric Duritz, Daniel Vickrey
Wrote it
When I Dream of Michelangelo
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Written by Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, Dan Vickrey, Adam Fredric Duritz, Charles Gillingham, David A. Immerglück, Daniel Vickrey
Co-wrote
Scarecrow
Somewhere Under Wonderland
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, Daniel Vickrey, David A. Immerglück, Avery Millard Powers III
Wrote it
Earthquake Driver
Somewhere Under Wonderland
Written by Adam Duritz, Adam Fredric Duritz, David A. Immerglück
Wrote it
None of the signature songs above fall in this category.
Discography 8 albums
Covers all eight Counting Crows studio albums, from August and Everything After (1993) through Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! (2025), including the 2012 covers album Underwater Sunshine. Live albums and compilations are outside this studio-album scope.
Bubble size = tracks worked on together. GN Gil Norton · SD Shawn Dealey · DB Dave Bryson · DL David Lowery
The Authorship Story
Data Insight
Counting Crows write as a collective built around one lyricist. Adam Duritz supplies the words on nearly every original song, credited under his legal name Adam Fredric Duritz in the composer column, while the music is shared among whichever members played on a given track, most often guitarist David Bryson and keyboardist Charlie Gillingham in the early years and a rotating lineup later on. The clearest exception to the band's own authorship is Underwater Sunshine, a covers album with no Counting Crows originals at all: every track belongs to its original writer, from Big Star and Bob Dylan to the pre-Crows bands of Duritz (Tender Mercies) and Dan Vickrey (Sordid Humor). Hard Candy carries a similar outside credit on 'Big Yellow Taxi,' written entirely by Joni Mitchell and sung as a duet with Vanessa Carlton. Outside those covers, the writing stays inside the band, anchored by Duritz's voice on the page as much as on the record.
Quick Facts
Academy Award nomination"Accidentally in Love," written for Shrek 2 in 2004, earned the band an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
Multi-platinum debutAugust and Everything After (1993) is certified seven-times platinum in the US and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Adam Duritz mental health advocacyDuritz has spoken publicly since 2008 about living with dissociative disorder and depression, using his platform to reduce stigma around mental illness.
Grammy-nominated debutThe band earned two Grammy nominations in 1994, for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Round Here") and Best New Artist.
Number one albumRecovering the Satellites (1996) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Covers detourUnderwater Sunshine (2012) is an all-covers album, including songs by two obscure Bay Area bands that fed members into Counting Crows.
Creative Fingerprint
Adam Duritz writes the lyrics for nearly every Counting Crows song while the music is composed collectively by the band, credited jointly among the members who wrote each track.
The Story
Counting Crows are an American rock band formed in San Francisco and Berkeley, California in 1991, anchored by singer and lyricist Adam Duritz. Their 1993 debut, August and Everything After, and its hit 'Mr. Jones' announced a roots-leaning alternative rock sound built on Duritz's confessional lyrics and jangling, R.E.M.-indebted guitars. The band followed with a run of albums including Recovering the Satellites (1996), This Desert Life (1999), and Hard Candy (2002), the last of which paired the band with Vanessa Carlton on a cover of Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi.' In 2012 they released Underwater Sunshine, a covers album drawn from songs by Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Bob Dylan, and other artists the band admired, including the pre-Crows bands of Duritz and guitarist Dan Vickrey. Duritz co-wrote 'Accidentally in Love' for the Shrek 2 soundtrack, earning the band an Academy Award nomination, and the group has sold more than 20 million records worldwide.
Awards & Recognition
Grammy nomination, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, "Round Here" (1994)
Grammy nomination, Best New Artist (1994)
MTV Video Music Award, Best New Artist (1994)
Academy Award nomination, Best Original Song, "Accidentally in Love" from Shrek 2 (2004)
Grammy nomination, Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, "Accidentally in Love" (2005)
BMI Award, "Accidentally in Love" (2005)
Frequently Asked Questions Counting Crows
Who writes Counting Crows' songs?
Adam Duritz writes the lyrics on nearly every Counting Crows song. The music is written collectively by the band, so songwriting credits usually list Duritz alongside whichever bandmates contributed the music on that particular track.
Who wrote "Mr. Jones"?
"Mr. Jones" is credited to Adam Duritz and David Bryson. Duritz wrote the lyrics, drawn from a real night out with his friend Marty Jones, and Bryson contributed to the music.
Who wrote "Accidentally in Love"?
"Accidentally in Love" was written by Adam Duritz, David Bryson, David Immerglück, Dan Vickrey, and Matt Malley, with some listings also crediting Charlie Gillingham. Duritz wrote it on commission from DreamWorks Animation for the opening of Shrek 2, and it earned the band a 2004 Academy Award nomination.
Is Underwater Sunshine a covers album?
Yes. Released in 2012, Underwater Sunshine consists entirely of songs written by other artists, spanning the 1960s through the 2010s, including tracks by Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, and The Faces.
How many studio albums has Counting Crows released?
Eight studio albums, from August and Everything After (1993) through Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! (2025).
Did Counting Crows write "Accidentally in Love" specifically for Shrek 2?
Yes. DreamWorks Animation commissioned Adam Duritz to write a song for the film's opening sequence, and the band composed the music together in early 2004.
Does the same band lineup write every album?
No. The band's core lineup has changed over time, most notably on bass and drums, so the group of musicians credited as co-writers of the music shifts from album to album even though Duritz remains the constant lyricist.
Has Counting Crows won a Grammy?
Not yet. The band has been nominated multiple times, including twice in 1994 for "Round Here" and Best New Artist, and again in 2005 for "Accidentally in Love," but has not won.
Counting Crows
