One Too Many Mornings
In August 1965, The Hawks received a phone call that would set the course for the biggest change for the rest of their lives. Bob Dylan called them stating that he needed backup for his performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Initially, Bob was only looking for a drummer and a guitarist, so his interest was only in Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. The phone call ended in interest but also skepticism. Bob Dylan was rather unfamiliar to the boys. He was seen as "that strummer singer/songwriter", and they had no clue what his songs were or what they would be getting into. A friend of the group named Mary Martin actually introduced Rick Danko to Bob when she brought him the album, Highway 61 Revisited. It was the first time he and the band actually heard him. It was also Mary who told Bob about the Hawks and called Rick up to tell him that Bob was looking for a backing band.
Robbie went up to New York to see Bob where they met in the studio to discuss details and Robbie introduced him to electric guitars. This was a mutual new turning point for both of them, with Bob introducing electric music on his albums and in concert, and the Hawks about to go on the road and back a new artist. The boys were also nervous about being a part of Bob's backing band after hearing how he was booed at Newport Folk Festival and his audience hadn't forgiven him since. After meeting Bob's manager Albert Grossman and getting the details that they would be on the road for a year, with half of the show being acoustic and the second half being electric, which is where the Hawks would come in. By then, the boys realized that this would be a "make it or break it opportunity", so they decided to go all-in with a leap of faith.
Their first show with Bob Dylan started on August 28, 1965, at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. At that point, they had only had a couple of rehearsals, and the band had raced up from New Jersey. As they sat backstage for Bob's acoustic first half, they could hear the crowd of 15,000 going nuts. After the first set, Bob came back warning Levon and Robbie that things could potentially get dangerous out there. The crowd already started booing as soon as they saw drums being set up, and as Robbie started the first guitar solo, the crowd booed and yelled and fights broke out. After such a disastrous show for an introduction, the band was relieved to have a more positive reception six days later at the Hollywood Bowl.
While Rick, Richard, and Garth traveled to both shows, they just attended and sat backstage. It was only Levon and Robbie who initially played with Bob Dylan. Heading back to New Jersey, they discussed together how while Levon and Robbie were the only ones wanted, they did not want to break up the band. After all, they left Ronnie Hawkins because they wanted to do things together and not be commanded and controlled by another leader again. Rick Danko remembered in an interview that it was Robbie Robertson who told Bob that he should hear the rest of the band play with him. Levon stated that the group was a package deal and that Bob would have to bring on all of them. Bob came to see the Hawks playing shows at Friar's Tavern in Toronto, but Rick did not actually meet him personally until Bob came to the court hearing vouching for the band after they all faced a marijuana bust charge. After witnessing all of them performing together, he loved them and agreed to make all five a part of his backing band.
On September 23, 1965, the tour officially started with them being billed Bob Dylan with Levon and the Hawks. It started off very rocky with them being booed everywhere that they went, and Bob being confused about playing with a band. Often he would break the beat which would confuse the rest of the band and not know where they were nor how to get back into sync. This caused the audience to riot further and yell "Get rid of the band!". To lighten the mood, Rick would sometimes step out front and dance and sing with Bob. For the most part, though, the band would cautiously stay in the shadows and try to be invisible. Eventually, all of the aggression and danger got to Levon, who quit in late November, telling Robbie late at night that he was out and that he would come back when they decided to be an independent band.
The next morning, the rest of the boys woke up to find Levon gone. Rick asked "Where's Levon?", being told that Levon called it a day and they were now without a drummer. Pretty quickly they hired Bobby Gregg as the drummer to go back on the road, where the tour picked back up with packed crows and loud shows. With Bob and Robbie playing side by side tearing it up on guitars, Garth's booming organ, Richard blending it all perfectly with the piano, and Rick dancing around on stage while swinging wildly with the bass, it was performances that no one had seen before and seemed to come from another world. This momentum kept up throughout the remainder of the tour with two more drummers replacing Gregg, the longest being Mickey Jones.
Much media was involved during this world tour, including a film called Eat the Document which showed Bob and the band touring England and experiencing a hostile environment with the audiences' adjustment towards the new electric sound. At that point, what was once known as The Hawks became known as "the band" due to media reports bitterly referring to them as that, blaming them for Bob's fan disappointing new sound. There were fun moments though amongst the band, especially for young Rick Danko who was only 21 and 22 when he was on the tour. For both that documentary and in Mickey Jones' home movie footage, you can see his goofy and lively sense of humor and finding a good time in all situations. It also shows the moment that Rick became the first singer to share the microphone with Bob Dylan on his new sound. On the song "One Too Many Mornings", you can see Rick swaying on Bob's right side and bopping on the bass when he suddenly leans into the microphone harmonizing on the "behind" part of "a thousand miles behind". Rick's voice is loud and clear, which is an early glimpse of how Rick would take each word seriously, emphasizing the right words that few people would ever really think twice about.
On the May 27, 1966 (the last night of the show), at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, Bob got reading for his last song of the set. While tuning up, a voice yelled from the balcony "Judas!, evidently one of the angry members of the audience at him going electric. Bob mumbled back "I don't believe you. You're a liar.". As the rest of the members got in gear, an unknown voice exclaimed, "Play it fucking loud!", when they all broke out into a wild and blasting "Like a Rolling Stone". Rick Danko remembers that at that point hundreds of people walked out, but the Beatles came backstage to talk with the boys and give them their respect.
After that English tour, they moved to New York. Robbie and Rick first shared a two-bedroom suite at the Gramercy Arms Hotel until Rick got a girlfriend and the two shared an apartment in Gramercy Park. He also started working on an album with Peter Yarrow called, You Are What You Eat. This period was to rest up after that exhausting and somewhat discouraging tour for a couple of months and then spend the rest of the year back on the road. These plans, however, became thwarted when Bob Dylan had a motorcycle accident and broke his neck.
Rick recalls that at that point the group was lost. Levon was still gone and it was not known where he was, and without Bob Dylan, there was no musical direction. A record was still desired, so all of the boys decided to look for a place to rehearse and hopefully record a record. Rick came up to Woodstock in February 1967 with Richard Manuel as part of Tiny Tim's Band for the movie. Both of the boys had never been to the Catskills before and were awestruck with its beauty. While up there, Albert Grossman suggested that they move out to the country to be closer to Bob Dylan. After getting tired of living in motels up there, Rick went house housing, where he discovered a split-level suburban pink house called, which would lovingly be called Big Pink. Rick, Richard, and Garth moved in, and Robbie rented a house with his girlfriend, Dominique. As history would soon tell, Big Pink would be more than a house. It would become a musical legacy within itself in just a two-year span.
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