The Band supposedly came from the fact that everyone around Woodstock referred to them as that (they were known to be living in the Big Pink house in West Saugerties, and working with Dylan). While they were still Ronnie Hawkins’ backup band they were known as The Hawks, for the obvious reason (they liked to catch and eat rabbits, squirrels, and mice ;-) . During the early-1968 recording of their debut album, they were kicking around new names, one of them being The Crackers, a reference of course to southern rednecks. Capitol Records was not amused.
