When You Awake

By mid-1968, The Band seemed to be seeing a bright future for themselves. After a positive reception for Music From Big Pink and offers from big-time promoters to headline shows, it seemed like the world was their oyster. Yet, the boys were not quite ready to leave the peace and quiet of the Catskills. One must remember that they had been on the road nonstop for most of the 1960s when they were hardly more than kids still. Their intention was to make some more albums at their own pace and touring would be a later discussion. Being able to quietly make music and enjoy a lot of leisure time and have fun was something they were basking in. Some of this fun that they had got them in quite a lot of trouble, however.

One thing that The Band was notorious for was crashing cars. Being in a more rural mountain area provided a fun opportunity for racing each other along the curvy roads. Of the five, Rick, Levon, and Richard crashed cars quite often (Richard the most supposedly). Many times, they were fortunate to walk away with just minor injuries and the car got the bulk of the consequences. Unfortunately, this was not the case every single time as Rick Danko personally found out.

While it is not known exactly when in 1968 Rick crashed his girlfriend Grace's brother's car, it was sometime in the fall. As Rick recalled in Levon's autobiography, he was "a little too drunk, a little too high" and was racing Levon along the mountain road with Levon being ahead of him. After climbing the mountain and taking the curvy turn in the fog, the car began to slide out of his control. Even though he slammed the brakes, it ended up crashing into a tree and knocking Rick unconscious for six hours. When he was finally able to climb out of the car, he was bleeding profusely. As he was stranded in the woods along the road in very critical condition, fortunately, their former road manager Bill Avis came along and saw Rick. Rick, still in a state of shock, started screaming for them to get him back home. As he managed to make his way back to his bedroom, his body gave out from its adrenaline and he would be staying bedridden for months to come.

For a few days, Rick would be drifting in and out of consciousness but he would remember a few details of what happened next. As he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, Levon, Richard, and Bill Avis came with him. Times that he would wake up was when he was in excruciating pain and would be screaming from it. One of those times was when he was in the recovery room and was not able to really move. As one knows, when the body is in shock from the trauma it is incredibly able to muster through anything. While Rick was able to climb out of the car and get back in the house, once his body succumbed to what had happened, he was able to fully feel what was going on. As he yelled scared for the nurses to help him get up, he asked them why he couldn't get up. As he would find out, his neck was broken and so was his back in at least four places (some sources say six or even seven). He also had a terrible gash on his cheekbone just underneath his right eye, which doctors claimed he was lucky he had not lost it.

For as severely injured as this car accident was, Rick was fortunate to even be alive. The neck break only was enough to have possibly killed him. The road to recovery though was not going to be an easy one. He had to have his head shaved and a hole was drilled on each side with tongs placed inside. This was for the traction that Rick was going to have to be in for many weeks due to his broken neck. It was the only way that he was going to be able to heal properly, and he would not be able to even move his head. Knowing Rick's ADHD and how hyperactive and restless he was, the rest of The Band wondered how he would even manage this. Rick was always full of energy and ready to keep moving. As the rest of the boys came to visit him, Rick tearfully and remorsefully apologized for what had happened and vowed to heal as fast as possible and never slow the group down again.

Much to everyone's surprise, Rick managed to keep his energy calm and stay perfectly still while in traction with the intention of just focusing on healing. While he was in the hospital, his girlfriend Grace Seldner was staying right by his side. While she was visiting, he got some shocking news: Grace was pregnant. With Rick being laid up in the hospital and not even able to move, nor even know exactly when he was going home, this situation became even tougher and more life-changing. During the duration of his being in the hospital, he and Grace had become even closer and more devoted, so this news put their relationship to the ultimate test. Yet the wild and seemingly untameable Rick Danko in his traction decided to ask her to marry him, to which she said yes. On top of having a band that he had to get back to, now he had a wife to be and a child on the way that all needed him to be healed as soon as possible.

Rick, always being the strong and resilient type in the toughest of times, used everything within him to recover fast. Robbie Robertson states in his autobiography, Testimony, "As his hair grew back like Samson's (from the Bible), so did his strength. He was from tough, hard-working stock, and it showed in how quickly he was recovering.". Rick actually defied the doctor's estimation of how long he would have to be in recovery. When Rick finally was out of traction, the boys were able to pick him up and bring him back home. While he was eager to get back to business and pick up where he left off, the road to regaining all of his strength and energy was tedious and he had to take it slow for a while. He walked unsteady and had to be careful, but as Robbie remarks, the joy showed in his eyes at finally being free. Some of his first goals were to get a new guitar and bass so he could regain the callouses on his fingers. Some new songs were written during the duration of Rick's hospital stay and he tried to work with Robbie on them, but they realized that his body wasn't quite ready yet and he would have to rest.

New music was not the only thing that he had planned. Rick kept his promise and worked on setting a date for his and Grace's wedding. While I could not find a date that they actually did get married on, they were married at the very small Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount in Woodstock, New York. At the time of the wedding, Rick was still in a neck brace and had to stiffly walk down the aisle, not able to move his head very much. It was to the guests' astonishment and awe that he was able to push through and be able to actually have that much independence and strength. His daughter Lisa Andrianna was born May 28, 1969, with Rick choosing the first name and Grace the middle.

During this period of recovery and The Band being out of service, this was making the demand for them at a new level, with offers coming for them to perform at $8,000 a night. Rick decided to keep his accident private from the press because he didn't want it affecting the group and causing rumors that they were over. Feeling guilty and not wanting to hold them back, he told Albert Grossman that the rest of The Band should go on the road without him and not turn down these offers, but no one wanted to go on without Rick. Their biggest performance breakthrough happened in San Francisco at Winterland for three nights April 17-19, with a pay of $20,000.This was going to be their first paid concert in three years, and the very first one of them officially known as The Band. With Rick being mostly healed, he was able to reunite back with the group to make this big debut happen. Even though they were terrified and did not even want to tour, they couldn't turn down this offer. The Band was about to show everyone what they were capable of and start a whole new journey.