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Guitarist David Enloe of infamous N.C. bands such as The Fabulous Knobs and The Woods joined the band. A couple of tracks were recorded at Turtle Tapes in Winston-Salem, and The Carneys were off and running.

A publishing deal with Warner-Chappell Music led to a trip to New York by Foster with the band following close behind. In the fall of 1989 Steve Jordan agreed to produce the band at the Hit Factory and brought in Niko Bolas to engineer.

The Carneys were in a collective great mood and were excited by Jordan and Bolas because the two had been involved in some of the band's favorite records, most notably the Keith Richards solo LPs and Neil Young's Freedom. Bolas even ordered in bales of hay to be strewn around the studio to make the hillbillies from North Carolina feel at home. The resulting tracks were mixed by Jordan and Joe Blaney (The Clash, Prince).

In early 1991, during the onset of the Gulf War, 5 more tracks were recorded at TGS Studio in Chapel Hill, with New York guitarist Mark Bosch.

Among many highlights of this period was an opening slot on a terrifically weird Bob Dylan spectacle on the "Oh Mercy" tour.

Once again, The Carneys found gold in New York-based guitarist, Andy York. Soon after York's arrival, the band set off on a cross country tour that would make "Survivor" contestants cringe. All the way to the Hyatt House(Riot House) on Sunset Blvd. and back through Texas, our heroes knew that the end was upon them. Disheartened and drained, The Carneys amiably disbanded. Jon Wurster soon joined the world-famous Superchunk and Andy York joined John Mellencamp's band (where he remains until this day).

In early 1992, Foster began playing solo dates on the east coast with great acts such as the The Cowboy Junkies, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Alex Chilton. Sinead O'Connor even tossed a $5 bill into Foster's tip jar at a show at the NYC Irish pub Sine'. Playing with the Cowboy Junkies at the Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock, NY, Foster took a walk out back and found the grave of Albert Grossman, the former manager of The Band, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin. The river flowing by was frozen over and the future of this rock-and- roll endeavor appeared very cloudy.

> Click here to read about Foster's next venture: The Pinetops.