Where Do We Go From Here?

With their highly successful album Stage Fright completed, The Band was starting to become toys for Capitol Records' gain and glory. Always preferring to make music at their own pace and simplistically, Capitol was holding them tight to their contract and insisting that they get back on the road and stay on top. Tours were booked for them in the spring of 1971 and they were told when and where to go. In that late spring and the summer, they did a European tour that was met with much praise and fanfare. When asked in May 1971 if they prefer to tour or make their albums, Rick replied that they prefer to devote a lot of time to the new album. He stated, "In this way, if we play together as little as possible, we might play together for a longer period of time. It's not going to get as hectic, and we can also enjoy it... I'm sure that once [the tour] finishes we'll be glad it's done.".

Their Royal Albert Hall concerts that they did on June 2 and 3 were sold out in just four hours without much advertisement. While they had performed there before when they were still The Hawks with Bob Dylan in February 1966, they were met with booing and anger. Yet, this time the audience was giving them complete adoration. While the boys may not have been excited to go on tour again so soon, the audience fueled the passion that got them through it.

These two concerts had many things going for them that made them a tremendously more successful large-scale show than what they did two years prior at Woodstock. The first was that the setup of the instruments was arranged as if The Band was playing in a studio, rather than scattered around on the stage leaving the boys to awkwardly transition instruments. This meant that Levon could go from the drums to the mandolin easily, Richard to the drums from the piano, Garth to the saxophone or accordion from the organ, and Rick from the bass to playing the fiddle. Another convenience was the sound quality. According to Rick, audio engineer Charlie Watkins visited The Band from England and copied down their equipment specifications so that it could be recreated for their concerts overseas. The Ampeg fretless bass that had just been gifted to Danko the previous year shone through strongly, even being likened to a tuba by its deep, punching sound.

After returning back home to Woodstock, The Band's manager Albert Grossman invited the group over to his new brainchild recording studio just outside of town, Bearsville Sound Studios. While they were not planning on making another album just yet, considering how they had just put out Stage Fright, they agreed and experimented with different sounds and lyrics to try out the new studio for the future. Of all the local music acts that would record albums that year at Bearsville, Cahoots would be the first. By this point, Capitol nudged them to start getting busy so they could have a new album produced before the year was over.

None of the members were exactly feeling moved and ready to have a new formal writing and recording session for various reasons. The first was extreme burnout. Except for the cozy Big Pink days a few years prior, they had not been able to catch a proper break and relax. In times of peace and tranquility, they all found their creative juices to flow abundantly. When feeling pressured and told what to do (such as during their time with Ronnie Hawkins), they started to feel stifled and a lack of creative freedom. During this period, the latter was occurring with a rigorous "record, promote, tour, repeat" process.

Secondly, addiction struggles were starting to show up and affect the way things were happening. Most of them were battling demons in some fashion, causing problems in their collaboration with one another, finding inspiration for their own personal creativity, vocal and playing abilities being as sharp as they once were, and professional reliability. While the music was still their biggest passion, over-indulgence in substances (as is the case in many rock bands) was starting to become a pitfall.

Third, tension was rising constantly between band members, primarily Levon and Robbie. With Levon continuously getting suspicious of Robbie and the Capitol Records businessmen and the decreasing lack of credits on the albums from anyone except Robbie, he was starting to feel disenchanted with the entire recording contract. Meanwhile, Robbie was starting to become frustrated with the other members' addictions and was not happy with how the composing process was going with the lyrics and sound.

Rick said of making their new album, Cahoots, that "It is the first album we've done in a studio which hasn't had to be torn down afterwards. The last two were done in Sammy Davis Jr's home in California, and in the Playhouse at Woodstock.". Bearsville Studios, however, was barely finished and The Band was left trying to figure out how the sound of the studio would affect the recording. The recording process proved to be a headache, but the way the studio was constructed was the least of their problems. While Robbie Robertson got through the writer's block, Garth stated that Robbie's compositions were awkward and made it difficult for him and the other members to determine what exactly to do instrumentally.

Cahoots ended up having several firsts on the album. The first was that Richard Manuel ended up not writing any of the songs, although he did sing a few that proved his vocals were still just as strong. As his addictions got worse, he gradually wrote less for their albums. The second was that Rick only played bass, which was unusual considering prior to this album he contributed fiddle or even horns. Lastly, this was the first album to have anyone outside of The Band contribute vocals. Van Morrison lent enthusiastic vocals to "4% Pantomime" as a duet with Richard, and Levon's partner Libby Titus contributed backing vocals on "The River Hymn".

Rick may not have contributed as much lyrically and instrumentally as usual to their new album, but vocally he made up quite a few of the tracks. He co-wrote and shared lead vocals on "Life is a Carnival", shared on "Shoot Out in Chinatown", and sang lead on "Thinkin' Out Loud", "Volcano", and "Where Do We Go From Here?". While none of these songs that Rick was lead on are ones that he became notable for, none of them show less passion and dedication. "Thinkin' Out Loud" emotes sadness and a little bit of regret, but also hope, strength, and determination for the future. It makes you feel that not all is lost regardless of what may have happened in the past. All of that shows through with Rick's quivering and emotional vocals. "Where Do We Go From Here?" portrays a similar sadness; a longing and regret for what has been taken away environmentally such as the eagle and buffalo and an unsureness for what the future brings. "Volcano" is one of the more erotic-sounding songs that The Band has ever done, and Rick's urgency and begging tone make the song more appealing regardless of the metaphorical lyrics that make it almost humorous.

In spite of all the complexities, stress, and lack of enthusiasm from The Band, Cahoots was quickly released on September 15, 1971. The reception for the album was fairly mixed. Some reviewers noted the strength of some of the tracks, especially "Life is the Carnival" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece", but unfortunately most of the reviews were conflicted with holding The Band to the unification and composition of the first two albums. Some reviews that had been criticizing them since Stage Fright wondered further what happened to the previous sound of The Band, and speculated if this was the beginning of a downfall. To add salt to the wound, the sales at the time for Cahoots were fairly poor compared to the prior albums. Even though the touring would be consistent even after these burns, it ended up being the last album of original material until 1975.

Meanwhile, life at home for Rick Danko was happy and peaceful. He and his wife Grace and toddler Lisa were enjoying simple country living around the Woodstock area. They had horses and Rick would enjoy going out feeding, tending to them, and letting Lisa enjoy them too. An especially joyful event happened on November 23, 1971, with the birth of their son Eli. As with Lisa's name, Rick picked out the first name, and Grace chose the middle, which was Damian. Being a father for a second time was joyful for Rick. He loved being a dad and always had a way of connecting with babies and kids naturally. While the arrival of Eli would bring domestic happiness, it was only for a little while longer. Marital relations between Rick and Grace were starting to get tense with the lifestyle of being on the road constantly and his addictions getting progressively worse ever since his car accident. 1971 would, unfortunately, prove to be the last year that they would officially be together as a couple.