Songs. Released independently in February 1995, River Songs was originally rejected by several major record companies, But after selling over 10,000 copies in its first few months, some of these same companies began pursuing the Badlees. One of these companies was A&M Records, who expressed interest in signing the band after a Philadelphia-based executive noticed the inordinate amount of airplay this independent band was getting on Pennsylvania radio stations. The songs primarily receiving airplay were "Angeline Is Coming Home", a song by Mike Naydock about a heroin addict returning from rehab, and Bret Alexander's "Fear of Falling", which would eventually be used by NBC during coverage of the 1996 Olympics. The Badlees were ultimately signed to the A&M subsidiary label, Polydor/Atlas. The deal was for two albums, a future album and River Songs, which was accepted by the company "as is", with no further production required for the national release. The record went on to sell 250,000 copies. The band would spend the next year and a half constantly playing, usually as a supporting act for a national headliner. Their first really big show was opening up for Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page & Robert Plant at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday, October 19, 1995. Later they would join tours for Bob Seger, Gregg Allman, The Gin Blossoms, and Edwin McCain, among others and perform throughout North America. They also produced a couple of professional music videos, one for "Fear of Falling", directed by Dieter Trattmann and shot in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and one for "Angeline Is Coming Home", directed by Anthony Edwards, an actor then starring on the television drama E.R. Edward's co-star on the show, Julianna Margulies, was cast to play the "Angeline" character in the video, which was shot at Charlie Chaplin Studios in Hollywood in March 1996. The production of the "Angeline" video was covered in national publications such as People Magazine and Rolling Stone Magazine as well as the nationally syndicated television show Entertainment Tonight. It premiered on VH1's Crossroads program, but was not well received by fans, critics, nor the band itself, who came to call the video a "very expensive mistake". Corporate limbo (1997–1999) By the end of 1996, the band took a break from touring and hoped to turn their attention to writing and recording their next album. This second national release on Polydor was originally slated