Springsteen and Clapton on their favorite, heh, band.

@onhwy61 

I bring these up because you're making it sound as if The Band came out of nowhere with a unique sound.

 But they did have a unique sound, unlike any other at the time, and obviously were a perfect match with Dylan (IMO). 

I also have those Byrds albums, and was also a Deadhead, who during those years were also heavily influenced by American ‘roots music’, as were their buddies New Riders, or The Flying Burrito Brothers, or Commander Cody, or Neil Young, et al.  
But you have to agree, The Band was unlike those others, and their difference was noticed both here and abroad. There was never really anyone else like them, they were ‘their own’. Hard to pigeon hole them into any particular category, but their music definitely had ‘American roots’ mixture without being overtly ‘country’ or ‘country rock’ or ‘folk rock’, etc.

onhwy61,
I agree with you. For al The Band worship, I really can't think of any bands from the time that even sounded at all like them. I also think that it's interesting that you mention the Byrds  "Notorious Byrd Brothers", which I think had a much stronger influence on bands of that time and a longer echo as well, all the way to Tom Petty for one.
And no, Steven Stills wasn't imitating The Band with the military uniform. H said in a recent interview that it was a combative time and he was reflecting that.  

The "brown album" has long been one of my desert island dics (somehow I never warmed to MFBP) along with "Europe'72". Songs such as "Tennessee Jed", "Brown Eyed Women", "Ramblin'  Rose" and "Jack Straw" seem to me to be cut from the same cloth as those on The Band's magnum opus. It's too bad the Dead were never able to record a studio album featuring these tunes, as Hunter had hoped. Nevertheless, to my ears, the overlap between the Dead's early 70's output and The Band is particularly strong-- more so than other group from that period. Others will no doubt disagree. . .  

Thanks guys for bringing up the Byrds. I started listening to rock-and-roll radio stations because of the Beatles (before that I pretty much only listened to Classical), but it was the Byrds that I truly fell for. The soaring harmonies. The chiming guitars. I was too young to see them when they first showed up, but I then saw them every time they played in L.A. I saw them at the Troubadour and either the Roxy or the Whiskey. I might have told this story before, but I saw them at the Santa Monica Civic or the Aquarius, where they they showed up as a trio. David Crosby had apparently quit that day. Some dude in the audience shouted, "Where's David Crosby?" Chris Hillman growled, "He's dead!"  McGuinn played both the lead and rhythm guitar parts. A real trooper...

In any case, I stand by my dislike of The Band. Sorry dudes!  I just never liked their sound. It seems as if they trudged instead of danced through their songs. To my ears they sounded didactic and whiny, not liberated.

Let's also not forget that Love's "Forever Changes" was released in November 1967. More than one critic has named it their top "desert island" record, and for good reason. All of the above-named artists heard it.  Maybe a one-off, what with the orchestral bits and largely belated appreciation. But it was very much in the air at the relevant time.