A record deal was struck with New York-based MMO Group, and Ear Cartoons was released late in 1980 to rave reviews, including a Billboard Magazine Pick of the Week.

After a year of solid touring, including shows at the legendary Los Angeles venue, Whisky a Go Go, the band became disenchanted with their career direction, cutting ties with the Kovacs and their label.

After leaving Sneakers, Carr moved to Portland, Oregon and joined Them Roosters, a spinoff band formed by Lenny Rancher of new wave heroes The Malchicks.

Playing with Lucy DeSoto and Rose Tattoo legend Peter Wells's band, he was introduced to industry icon[3] Sebastian Chase whose label was distributed by CBS (now Sony).

Carr relocated to Melbourne and released two more solo albums, Tales of Ordinary Madness in 1991 and Wooden Nails in 1992 before joining country-rock band Big Whiskey.

He wrote the bulk of their debut album which was released in 1994, then left the band to concentrate on his new project, the "Traveling Wilburys"-styled acoustic outfit Hillbilly Moon, formed with Wells and Top-40 recording artist Paul Norton.

In 1999, Carr moved to Nashville and pursued his songwriting career, cowriting with many notable writers and performing regularly on the circuit at the Bluebird Café, Douglas Corner, the Broken Spoke and others.

He again drifted behind the scenes, assisting his manager pals Greg Shaw (Keith Urban) and Gina Mendello (Tommy Emmanuel) as well as landing a job with a couple of New Media dotcoms.