Delve Into Danko

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...

In April 1969, The Band played their first show as officially The Band at Bill Graham's Winterland. After what seemed like numerous accidents, contract frustrations, and just sheer exhaustion from being on the road for so many years, the boys seemed ready to tackle the world. On April 17, they got ready to introduce their first live show as an independent group. However, there was an issue that memorialized the show as not just their first, but also with a bizarre incident... Robbie Robertson became ill with the flu suddenly and it seemed like he would not be able to perform. As their lead guitarist, this could cause the show to be a catastrophe. With a need for a quick intervention, Bill Graham in true late 60s fashion brought in a hypnotist that he knew to work some magic on Robbie. Everyone was speculative as to how (and if) this would actually work, but after a two-hour show delay, he suddenly felt the illness pass and was able to go on. Spectators at the show say that Robbie w...

  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...

     Early 1968 saw a lot of changes for The Band. Thanks to Rick Danko and Sally Grossman (Albert Grossman's wife), they had a brand new recording contract with Capitol records. After taking a sabbatical and working with Bob Dylan on over a hundred new songs, they were itching to get back to business and actually become an independent band. There was one issue though: they had everything but a name. During a meeting at Big Pink, the boys discussed what name they should come up with since it was pretty essential for their record contract. Rick suggested that they come up with a pretentious, satirical name for fun. Richard Manuel came up with trendy, psychedelic names such as Marshmallow Overcoat and Chocolate Subway. Levon Helm, however, had the winning name: The Crackers. While it was quite provocative and not exactly one that makes people comfortable, for them it was descriptive of the southern, down-home sound that they were making that was reminiscent of southern whit...

After Bob Dylan's motorcycle accident, The Band (minus Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm) found themselves settled into their new home that Rick Danko found called Big Pink. Rick lovingly remembers, "Big Pink was our clubhouse. Richard did all of the cooking, Garth washed all the dishes because he didn't trust anyone else to do them, and I took the garbage to the dump and kept the fireplace going with split logs.". Bob Dylan paid the boys weekly while they settled in, and they saw it as a chance to finally relax after being on the road nonstop from their time in the Hawks and then the Bob tour. During this period, Rick also got a dog from Bob Dylan named Hamlet. Hamlet was a huge dog (thought to have been a poodle mix), and Bob was having a hard time training him and breaking the nippy habit. While he was having a hard time training his Saint Bernard as well, Rick felt a pull towards Hamlet and was sympathetic to his messy fur and living outside since Bob kicked him out...

                                                                                                  Rick with Bob 1965                                                                         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 ...

     In May 1961, guitarist Rick Danko secured a position as the wanted new bassist for Ronnie Hawkins' backing band, The Hawks. This sudden whirlwind decision proved to be a life-changing one for 17-year-old Danko. The Hawk, as Ronnie was commonly known, wanted Rick to hop in that white Cadillac as soon as possible, and Rick wasted no time making sure he could go. This whole new world was one that Rick was completely unfamiliar with. Being a small town, close-knit family country boy, Rick was rather sheltered from the "wild-life" of rock 'n' roll. Even the bands that he had been involved with played family-friendly community events that were nothing like what Ronnie Hawkins was about to show him.       While Rick was excited to be out on the road, he did not know what to expect from this new group of guys (which included Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson). Ronnie and the Hawks had a "terrible reputation" as Rick explains in Levon Helm's book, This Whe...