Soles, Mansfield, Stoner, Wyeth, pianist Walter Davis, Jr., and percussionist Otis Smith arrived in late November and early December. Even with his players assembled, Dylan was not ready to rehearse, as the custody battle over his children and the imminent release of "Renaldo and Clara" occupied most of his attention. (He was still editing "Renaldo and Clara" up to the last minute.) "Bob kept us sitting around for a week or two," recalls Stoner. "He just never showed up...and he finally drops in, he's distracted...He was really out. He was always bummed out. He was chain-smoking and he was really in a bad mood. He was short with people. It just wasn't working out."