Just Another Whistle Stop

By the time 1970 rolled around, The Band was riding high. Their self-titled album (also known as The Brown Album) had sold an impressive half a million copies, and they gained a new community of fans who greatly enjoyed their more rootsy sound. While Music From Big Pink was a success and opened the doors for bigger things, the Brown album was seen as a more "down-home", sentimental sound that attracted those who loved country and folk music and solidified their rock fans. Country rock was starting to emerge around this era, so the album came out at a perfect time without it being necessarily country. Once again people couldn't quite pin down what exact genre of a rock band The Band was, except that they were their own sound that would greatly inspire the Americana genre as well as many other groups across the musical spectrum. Whatever these boys were, it was a smashing success with more bragging rights being bestowed upon them. Besides their already fast placement on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in August 1968, they started off January of 1970 being featured on the cover of Time Magazine as well. They weren't photographed for the cover, but a caricature was used instead with an insightful biographical feature that told the story of this "new" group that had one of the most interesting backgrounds for over 10 years already. Later in September 1970, they would also be on the cover of Circus Magazine as well.

Before they could fully exhale and bask in their star status, it was time to get busy and start working on a new album (as per their Capitol Records contract that demanded a yearly album). While The Band was very grateful and pleased with their hard work paying off, all of the demands and stressors were starting to take a toll on them, with outside influences playing a role as well in the negative forces. Some of these contributors were conflicts regarding credits on songs (especially between Levon and Robbie), people coming in that the group didn't know that were telling them how to record their new music, and drugs and alcohol addiction making them off their top game. Just about all of them were struggling with an addiction of their own, which was a common theme running through the music industry during that period but was starting to affect their lives in various ways.

With The Band always having a dream of being their own independent entity, they had decided that they would take a break from working with producer John Simon, who had produced their first two albums. Their idea is that they wanted to produce the album themselves and take a chance on calling their own shots. This recording would take place at Woodstock Playhouse with established musician Todd Rundgren being the sound engineer. Todd was in Woodstock recording his debut album with his new band Runt at Bearsville Theater, which features Rick and Levon playing on the track "Once Burned". Even though he remained the sound engineer for the Stage Fright album, several of the guys did not agree with Todd's direction for recording and mixing, which caused tension and a lot of disagreement. They felt that they no longer were able to be in control which was their initial goal and that they couldn't get out the ideal sound that they wanted. In Levon's book This Wheel's On Fire, he described that the days of being one with the music were over compared to their pleasing and satisfying process for the first two albums.

While the process of making Stage Fright may have been tense and unsmooth, it produced many strong songs, including those that featured Rick on lead or co-lead vocals. The title track itself is a fragile but hopeful song that many people have attributed as autobiographical for him but was actually more so for Robbie Robertson who wrote the song. While not confirmed, it is thought to be about having stage fright before their performance at Winterland in 1969. It is no wonder that people assume it to be about Rick though considering his fragile and quivery vocals that encapsulate the feeling of someone being afraid to perform. His vulnerability is upfront yet gets stronger and more confident as it goes on. It is a perfect demonstration of Rick painting the image of the words from just his singing.

Another difference with the Stage Fright album is that it is the first to only feature one solely lead Rick song. Other tracks that featured him on co-lead are "Time to Kill", "W.S. Walcott Medicine Show", and "The Rumor". Rick joyfully sings "Time to Kill" for its full duration, but he is joined by Richard in harmony, so it is technically both of them sharing a lead role. The first two albums had at least two leads from Rick, but he seemed to have a primary role for support and tying many tracks together with his skill of providing harmony and balance where it could be best used. In "Walcott", he provides the perfect balance of he and Levon sharing. It holds the listener's attention when Rick suddenly comes in and gives a change of voice. "The Rumor" is a magical track that showcases the three boys' brilliant and strong vocals. With Rick leading into it, he instantly grabs your attention and reels you in with his sensitivity until Levon and finally, Richard join in. The creative process of who should sing which part is a perfected craft that is especially evident when they have all three featured. In my personal opinion, some of their top best songs are the ones that have them taking turns singing.

Rick's bass playing is also some of his strongest sounding on a studio album (such as the title track), with his new fretless bass that the Ampeg company sent to him for free as a promotional gift. He loved the fretless and saw it as a new challenge and a way to advance his skills by having to play solely by memory and sound of where the frets and notes are. He explained in an interview, “The difference is more than only the wood and the steel. The fretless disciplines you to play in tune-you must listen to everything. It's likely that's what made me begin sliding, sliding up to the exact note. Then it just became a natural thing. It all depends on the situation when it comes to choosing one bass over the other. If the song requires a little warped slide sound, I'll use the fretless.”. Levon also credited the fretless bass sound for changing the rhythm section for The Band and giving it a deeper groove. Rick also played fiddle on "Daniel and the Sacred Harp", which would be the last studio album until Northern Lights/Southern Cross that he would do so.

Regardless of the fact that Stage Fright was created in a hurry to meet the group's contract demands, it was instantly a commercial success. The group felt that it wasn't their best sound due to being recorded in a rush nor having it mixed the way that they wanted, but like the Brown album, it became gold-certified and even reached no. 5 on the Billboard charts. The timing for it being released was perfect with The Band still riding high on their fame, and they were invited to play in some of the biggest stadiums and venues of their career thus far. Audiences were in the tens of thousands and could sometimes get wild and dangerously raucous. Concerts such as Wembley, Hollywood Bowl, Syria Mosque, and Harvard University became some of the most highlighted shows of their grueling tour in 1970. Perhaps the most famous and infamous performance was the Canadian train tour known as Festival Express. This late June and early July tour included many famous artists such as The Band, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, and many more. Rick Danko was the only Band member on the train and had to hop the fence and run as fast as he could to catch up with the train and get on. The Band had an extensive setlist that to this day has never been released in its entirety, but they were at the top of their game as the clips that exist show. The tour, however, did not have a good turnout and ended up losing several hundred thousand dollars. Regardless of being under budget, it is apparent that Rick had an exceptionally good time as the movie shows him laughing and singing quite drunk with Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin, and being a bystander watching other acts perform.

Overall, 1970 was a year of many successes and further building upon The Band's popularity and demand, even in the midst of challenges and personal struggles. When one thinks about their addiction battles and frustration with the recording process of Stage Fright, it is amazing how they were able to still produce an album that was (and has been still) much celebrated and beloved. These glory days, however, would not stay on top forever, with the next year signifying a slow downwards spiral. The Stage Fright era has been called "the beginning of The Last Waltz" by both the members themselves and biographers. As for Rick, there would continue to be more personal joy coming into his life in spite of the professional chaos, with Woodstock providing comfort and shelter from invasive publicity for a little while longer.