Counting Crows return this spring sans major label for their first full-length release in four years. Following up 2008’s Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings will be a collection of covers to tide fans over until an LP of original tunes arrives. While Underwater Sunshine will hit stores on April 10 for a proper release, Adam Duritz and Co. revealed along with this week’s announcement that they plan to stream the 15-track set on Spotify well in advance. In fact, you won’t even need to wait for that to-be-announced date to get a taste of what’s to come, as their cover of Tender Mercies’ “Mercy” is available to download in exchange for an e-mail address below. (As any fan could tell you, Tender Mercies is a band that features the Crows’ own Dan Vickrey and Jim Bogios, among others.)
As for that stream-only unveiling, we’ll keep you posted when details cross our radar. In the meantime, preview the tracklist — which features the band paying their debt to a number of legendary heroes such as Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, Gram Parsons, and Big Star, as well as a number of emerging artists — after the jump: