THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

band (Al Kooper on keyboards, Harvey Brooks on bass,
and, from the Hawks, Canadian guitarist Robbie Robertson
and drummer Levon Helm). Dylan and the band were
booed throughout the performance.
Backed by Robertson, Helm, and the rest of the Hawks
(Rick Danko on bass, Richard Manuel on piano, and
Garth Hudson on organ and saxophone), Dylan toured
incessantly in 1965 and 1966, always playing to sold-out
audiences. On Nov. 22, 1965, Dylan married Sara Lowndes.
They split their time between a townhouse in Greenwich
Village and a country estate in Woodstock, New York.
In February 1966, at the suggestion of his new producer,
Bob Johnston, Dylan recorded at Columbia’s Nash ville,
Tennessee, studios, along with Kooper, Robertson, and
the cream of Nashville’s studio musicians. A week’s worth
of marathon sessions produced Blonde on Blonde. The criti-
cally acclaimed album pushed Dylan to the zenith of his
popularity. He toured Europe with the Hawks (soon to
reemerge as the Band) until the summer of 1966, when a
motorcycle accident in Woodstock brought Dylan’s amaz-
ing seven-year momentum to an abrupt halt. He retreated
to his home in Woodstock and virtually disappeared for
two years.
In 1967 the Band moved to Woodstock to be closer to
Dylan. Occasionally they coaxed him into the basement
studio of their communal home to play music together,
and recordings from these sessions ultimately became the
double album The Basement Tapes (1975). In early 1968
Columbia released a stripped-down album of new Dylan
songs titled John Wesley Harding. It reached number two
on the pop album charts.
In January 1968 Dylan made his first postaccident
appearance at a memorial concert for Woody Guthrie in
New York City—with shorter hair, spectacles, and a
neglected beard. At this point Dylan adopted the stance