The music was recorded at Toronto, Ontario's Church of the Holy Trinity on 27 November 1987, with the band circled around a single microphone. The album includes a mixture of original material by the band and covers of classic folk, rock and country songs, including the band's most famous single, a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", based on the version found on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, rather than the later studio version from Loaded.[4] Also included is "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)", which is both a cover and an original, combining a new song by the band with the pop standard "Blue Moon".
Only 18 months after releasing Open Road, a CD and DVD package recorded during their 2001 tour, the Cowboy Junkies issued another live document, Long Journey Home, which captures in both sound and image an appearance in Liverpool, England, during the fall of 2004.
