On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan introduced his new band at Carnegie Hall

Just 10 weeks after making history with his infamous transition to electric guitar, Dylan decided to hire a new group to be his backing band. Blues singer John Hammond Jr. recommended the Hawks, the band that had been working alongside Ronnie Hawkins until they split in late 1963. Hawkins went on to claim in an interview that “Bob Dylan stole my band!”.

After seeing the band perform, Dylan invited drummer Levon Helm and guitarist Robbie Robertson to join his band. Helm recalls Dylan phoning him and asking “Well, um… uh, how’d ya like to play the Hollywood Bowl”. After two shows, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to the other Hawks and explained they would not continue without them. The other members Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel then joined the group that would be renamed from the Hawks to The Band.

At the show at Carnegie Hall, Dylan took the stage and introduced his new band. Though at the time the group received much scrutiny and heckling from folk music purists, The Band continued to perform with Dylan until their dissolution in 1975. Since then, various controversies about the band have come up, mostly a lasting disagreement between Robertson and the other members who allege that he stole credit for a number of songs where he is listed as writer or co-writer and as a result receives a majority of the royalties generated from the music. The other members claim the songs were created in collaboration with all members.

There are now numerous films and documentaries covering the story and the controversies of The Band, as well as books and interviews from the original members. Despite their disagreements, The Band remains one of the most well-known and highly renowned musical groups of the era.