by John Myers, Line Producer, World Cafe on XPN

I know every note on the Counting Crows’ debut recording “August and Everything After…” Released in the fall of 1993, it was one of those albums that had become part of my college experience.

Three years after the release of “August and Everything After,” I had graduated from college and was living in Philadelphia with friends and band mates. I had become a big fan, member and intern at WXPN.

One afternoon as I got into my car and turned the key I heard a wonderful sound coming over WXPN’s airwaves. I recognized the organ & guitar interplay from the Counting Crows bootlegs I’d acquired in the years since “August and Everything After.” It was the intro to the Counting Crows song “Children In Bloom” … but, this song wasn’t on “August and Everything After.” Where had WXPN gotten this recording?

I cranked up the radio as “Children In Bloom” segued into “Have You Seen Me Lately?” Then Helen Leicht broke in and, with genuine excitement in her voice, explained that WXPN’s Bruce Warren had just received an advance of the new Counting Crows record and they had decided to broadcast the record in its entirety.

How cool was that? My favorite radio station was as excited about the new Counting Crows record as I was…

When the Counting Crows toured in support of “Recovering the Satellites,” I saw them in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York… Each show was electrifying but nothing compared to that initial euphoria of cranking up the car stereo as WXPN played the whole recording just because they wanted to and because they could.