Dave Matthews Band The Making Of ‘Before These Crowded Streets’

• Standing here the old man said to me
• “Long before these crowded streets
• Here stood my dreaming tree”
• Below it he would sit for hours at a time
• Now progress takes away what forever took to find
• – Dave Matthews Band “The Dreaming Tree” lyrics

Taking its name from the album track lyrics above, Dave Matthews Band released their third studio album Before These Crowded Streets 18 years ago today. The follow-up to the 1996 album Crash was the focus of a “making of” documentary and for this week’s Throwback Thursday installment, here’s an anniversary look back at the creation of the LP which hit stores on April 28, 1998.

The behind-the-scenes footage from The Plant Recording Studios includes producer Steve Lillywhite working with Matthews’ and his band mates drummer Carter Beauford, bassist Stefan Lessard, saxophonist LeRoi Moore and violinist Boyd Tinsley, as well as guest guitarist Tim Reynolds and others. The DMB members discusss the writing process that shaped the songs on the album and share insight on how they transferred their ideas into tracks on the record.

Below is an episode produced for the MTV Ultra Sound series entitled Dave Matthews Band Open Wide which chronicled the production of Before These Crowded Streets, watch: