be manager of the Badlees full-time and, in 1991, Paul Smith joined as the band's permanent bass player. The Badlees set up headquarters in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and began recording a full-length album. The result was Diamonds in the Coal, released in January 1992. The album contained much décor such as philosophical quotes accompanying each song's lyrics and a cover that uses a classic photo from a local historical society. The single "Back Where We Come From (the Na Na Song)" was the first to receive prominent airplay on Pennsylvania radio stations and the closing title song, "Diamonds in the Coal" was the first example of a distinct sound that would come to define the band called "roots rock". They were invited to perform at the SxSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas, and soon landed a corporate sponsorship with Budweiser. They produced special cassette singles with remixed versions of their songs to sell at shows, while directing audience members to a local retailer to buy the full-length album, a strategy employed by Selders to gain credibility for the Badlees among the major record chains. By 1993, as the Badlees prepared to work on their second full-length album, they decided to take a different approach, hiring Jack Pyers, formally of the band Dirty Looks as producer. Pyers approached the Badlees, promising a sound that more accurately reflects the energy of their live shows. The resulting effort was called The Unfortunate Result of Spare Time, recorded in the summer of 1993. National success (1994–1996) In 1994, Bud Light, the band's primary sponsor, offered the band the opportunity to play a series of dates in China. The Qingdao International Beer Festival, an annual event in the Chinese city of the same name, was held from August 14 through the 18th in 1994. The Badlees were the only western entertainment performing that year, playing about ten shows over the course of those five days. Soon after the band returned home, they headed back to the studio to start on their third full-length album. The band had not been completely satisfied with The Unfortunate Result of Spare Time and planned on naming this next one simply "The Badlees" as a deliberate signal that they were returning to the "roots rock" sound. Inspired by the daily commute along the Susquehanna River to the recording studio in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the band decided instead to name the album River