Karen Jonas’ Obsession with the Counting Crow’s “A Long December” Led to a Swift Recording

Reflecting on the past year of cancelled tour dates and other plans coming to an end, Karen Jonas was stuck in a strange limbo of hope for a new beginning and what-ifs once the chapter closes on 2020. In her contemplative state, the Virginia artist became obsessed with the Counting Crows’ 1996 hit “A Long December.” 

“The stress of the year thawed,” says Jonas. “I became soft and nostalgic. We made it this far, and I began to believe that ‘maybe this year will be better than the last.’”

Strumming quietly on her bed, A long December and there’s reason to believe / Maybe this year will be better than the last were words Jonas wanted to believe, so she immediately started recording it. (Get her version on your favorite digital service)

“It seemed to hold just the right balance of melancholy and hope for this strange and stressful time,” shares Jonas. “I sent it to the band on a Monday and said we needed to record it on Thursday and have a video done by Friday, because it’s a weird year and I’m in a hurry. They all knew it by heart, so it didn’t matter. We got together and played through, and it was love at first sight.”

Jonas, along with producer EP Jackson and her band, guitarist Tim Bray, bassist Seth Morrissey and drummer Seth Brown pulled together the track, and even enlisted videographer Mats Jerndal of Oddbox Studios for the accompanying visuals.

Recorded at sunset in front of an old industrial building in downtown Fredericksburg, VA—and home to the Fraser Wood Elements Workshop—Jerndal captured the band in a more simple element through the tender rendition of the Recovering the Satellites track.

For Jonas, 2020 marked the release of her fifth album The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams and like so many artists, a complete standstill as she had to cancel all touring plans. In a 2013 feature in American Songwriter, Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz revealed that he wrote the song around hospital visits to friends (The smell of hospitals in winter), yet despite its more somber tone, “A Long December” is also a story of hope for better days ahead. “It’s a song about looking back on your life and seeing changes happening,” he said, “and for once me, looking forward and thinking, ‘Ya know, things are gonna change for the better.’’”

In 2020, “A Long December” speaks to the end of one of the most tumultuous years in history, and the uncertainty of the future. A more poignant cover to add to her catalog, Jonas hopes the song helps people get through the next few months of 2021 as we wait for the world to start turning again. 

“Though we’ve got a long road before we return to any sort of normal,” says Jonas, “There is reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.”