Released February, 1991
Produced by Don Smith
Recorded by Bruce Barris in New Orleans. Sept. 1990
Mixed by Don Smith and Bruce Barris
Assistant Engineer: Scott Campell
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound New York, NY
Additional Musicians Phil Jones- Tambourine,
Benmont Tench - Piano, Malcolm Burn - Accordian

On Road Apples we had the benefit of working
with Don Smith and Bruce Barris again. We still
had plenty to learn about studios and it made
sense to team up with these guys, we really
enjoyed working with them last time and there
was one less unknown [a new producer] in the
recording equation. We booked five weeks at
Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway Studio in the French
Quarter of New Orleans. This studio atmosphere
was way more relaxed and informal when
compared with other he’d used. The studio is in
an old mansion with 14-foot ceilings. The rooms
have a terrific natural sound. Most of the time we
all played in the same enormous room where Don
and Bruce and the consoles were. When we needed
a break the pool table and kitchen were close by.

New Orleans is a lively town and we’re sure the whole
vibe down there is on this record. We were really
working hard and totally inspired by this sinking city.
Road Apples is probably a grittier more urgent
sounding recording than Up To Here. We were
attempting to capture the sound of our live shows.
During the first week of pre-production we had pruned
the potential songs down to a manageable number.
The only song that was born down in New Orleans that
made the record was Little Bones inspired in part by a
rather verbose taxi driver who drove us to Tipitinas
one night.

At the time we thought long and hard about calling this
record "Saskadelphia." It reflected, we thought aspects
of our life on the road - .the "where the hell are we now
feeling" you can get near the end of a long tour. For
different reasons no one else we told about this title
was partial to it. In the end we opted for Road Apples
and its’ various meanings literally it means horse shit
but there is also a reference to playing road hockey in
the street. In the old days some kids would use frozen
horse shit as their puck in a game of road hockey. So
in a way we called the record horse shit a little jab at the
folks that didn’t like Saskadelphia as a title.