Motorcycle accident near Woodstock

The crash came at the end of an exhausting stretch of recording and touring, with more concerts already booked. How badly he was hurt has never been fully clear; no detailed medical account was made public, and he recovered privately, partly at the home of a doctor in Middletown, New York. Whatever the injuries, the accident gave him a reason to stop. He cancelled his upcoming shows, spent time with his growing family and stayed out of public view. In that quiet he made the basement recordings with the Hawks and then John Wesley Harding, a spare, restrained record very unlike his mid-1960s sound. Apart from a handful of one-off appearances, he did not tour again until 1974, and the accident has fed his legend ever since.