Woodstock 1969, or 1967?

In 1967, as The Beatles, The Stones, The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, Cream, and the rest of their ilk were peddling their "psychedelic horsesh*t"---as Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun characterized Disraeli Gears after he listened to the acetate Cream had given him of their new album---to the exploding Rock music audience, there was an unheard music revolution simmering underground in Woodstock and nearby West Saugerties.

Bob Dylan and The Hawks spend all of 1967 getting together in a pink house on a 100 acre lot in West Saugerties, making music in the basement of the house. Hawks organist Garth Hudson set up some mics, plugged them into a Uher reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Dylan and the quartet (Hawks drummer Levon Helm left the 5-pc---heh---band in 1965, not at all caring to perform for the booing audiences they encountered on the Dylan world tour, for which Dylan had hired the Hawks. Helm was replaced by the drummer who had been working in Johnny Rivers’ band. When the second leg of the 1966 tour was cancelled, the drummer returned to work in the Los Angeles recording studios.).

The recordings Dylan and The Hawks made of course became known as The Basement Tapes, and they were in essence the seeds planted for the music that Dylan and The Hawks soon harvested on their own separate albums. Dylan recorded and in December of 1967 released John Wesley Harding, an album of music about as far from psychedelia as you can get. His previous 1966 album had been the amphetamine-fueled Blonde On Blonde, which absolutely bristled with kinetic energy. JWH was the opposite of BOB, in terms of both music and lyrics. He had been instrumental in creating the Counter Culture, and just as it was taking over the world of the younger generation, he turned his back on it.

Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman negotiated a record deal for The Hawks (they were contemplating a name change; suggestions were The Honkies, The Crackers, both of which were rejected ). All through 1967 Hawks pianist Richard Manuel had been learning to play the drumset Dylan brought into the basement, Levon Helm still absent from the band. Helm had worked on an oil rig in the Gulf Of Mexico, then relocated to Los Angeles where he became part of the local music scene (Leon Russell, Delaney & Bonnie, etc.), giving drum lessons to make money (one of his students became the drummer in Linda Ronstadt’s first backing band.).

Richard Manuel was a fast study (in that year of ’67 he developed his own unique and wonderful style of drumming. He plays drums on half the songs on The Band’s second album), but The Hawks would of course need a full-time drummer. Hawks bassist Rick Danko gave Levon a call, informing him of the offer from Capitol Records of a million bucks. Levon jumped into his Corvette and drove straight to West Saugerties, and moved into the pink house.

The Hawks became The Band with the release of their debut album, Music From Big Pink. To say it caused quite a stir is a gross understatement (George Harrison characterized them as "the best band in the history of the universe"). That album and it’s follow up, the self-titled "brown" album, changed the course of Rock music. But that course was one not followed by all, in both terms of musicians/bands/songwriters/etc. and the audience. Led Zeppelin is the band that really took over the world, and they weren’t alone. But The Band were the most respected by their peers. A "musician’s band."

I say all the above to lay the foundation for the video clip below, a wonderful 36 minute film about Dylan, The Band, and Woodstock the town. It is entitled "What Really Happened To Woodstock’s Americana Movement Of The 1960’s", and I think you will find it worth your time to watch.

https://youtu.be/8MDcnoLgLxg?si=FS7EBR484pQkQkMt