 In 1965 and 1966 , Dylan was touring with the Hawks — Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm , although Helm quit the group in late November or early December 1965 . In July 1966 , Dylan suffered a motorcycle accident and spent several months <unk> at his house in <unk> , near Woodstock , New York . By spring 1967 , all of the members of the Hawks , except Helm , had joined Dylan in the Woodstock area , with Danko , Manuel and Hudson living in nearby West <unk> in a house nicknamed Big Pink . Dylan and the four Hawks began recording informal music sessions , first at Dylan 's house in what was known as " the Red Room " , followed by the basement of Big Pink . Earlier on they recorded mostly covers and traditional music , but later moved onto original material written largely by Dylan . In total , over 100 songs and alternate takes were put on tape . Helm returned to the group in October 1967 and performed on some final Woodstock @-@ area collaborations between Dylan and the Hawks , these ones at a different house that some group members had moved to . In the fall of that year , the Hawks , who soon renamed themselves the Band , continued writing and rehearsing songs for their debut album , Music From Big Pink . 
