Dire Straits toured for the remainder of the year, and also appeared on "Saturday Night Live". Knopfler would further emphasise his country music influences on his 1990 collaboration with guitarist Chet Atkins, "Neck and Neck". In 1990, Dire Straits performed alongside Elton John and Eric Clapton at Knebworth Festival, playing three songs: "Solid Rock", "Money for Nothing" and a song which Knopfler prefaced as an experimental song, unsure if they should record it on a following record. The song, a blues rock piece with solos by both Knopfler and Clapton, was titled "I Think I Love You Too Much". This song also
Dire Straits "Six Blade Knife" for BBC Radio London; in November demo tapes were made of "Setting Me Up", "Eastbound Train" and "Real Girl". The group's first album, "Dire Straits", was recorded at Basing Street studios in Notting Hill, London in February 1978, at a cost of £12,500. Produced by Muff Winwood, the album was first released in the United Kingdom on Vertigo Records, then a division of Phonogram Inc. The album came to the attention of A&R representative Karin Berg, working at Warner Bros. Records in New York City. She felt that it was the kind of music audiences were hungry