[2] Released on July 1, 1968, by Capitol Records, it employs a distinctive blend of country, rock, folk, classical, R&B, blues, and soul.

In 2000, the album was rereleased with additional outtakes from the recording sessions, and in 2018, a "50th Anniversary Super Deluxe" edition was released with a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain.

The Band's members included Danko, Manuel, Hudson, guitarist Robbie Robertson and drummer/singer Levon Helm.

Armed with news of a recording deal for the group, they lured Levon Helm back from the oil rigs where he had been working to Woodstock where he took up his crucial position in the Band, singing and playing drums.

Helm's return coincided with a ferment of activity in Big Pink as the embryonic Band not only recorded with Dylan but also began to write their own songs.

[5] After meeting with producer John Simon, the Band started to record their debut album in Manhattan at A&R Studios, at 799 7th Avenue in the early months of 1968.

The Band recorded "Tears of Rage", "Chest Fever", "We Can Talk", "This Wheel's On Fire" and "The Weight" in two sessions.

The songs on Big Pink recorded in L.A. were "In A Station", "To Kingdom Come", "Lonesome Suzie", "Long Black Veil" and "I Shall Be Released".

[20] In Rolling Stone, Al Kooper's rave review of Big Pink ended with the words, "This album was recorded in approximately two weeks.

Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in The Village Voice, crediting the music's original evocation of "country-soul feeling without imitating it" and the "human roughness around the edges", [20] yet stating that he "always admired that album" but "from a distance".

"The Weight" gained widespread popularity from the Band's performance of it at Woodstock on August 17, 1969, and due partially to its inclusion in the film Easy Rider, though it was omitted from the soundtrack because of licensing issues.

George Harrison was also impressed by the album's musicianship and sense of camaraderie, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd called it the second "most influential record in the history of rock and roll", after the Beatles' Sgt.

[31] On Metacritic, the expanded 50th anniversary edition of the album has an aggregate score of 99 out of 100, based on seven reviews, a rating that the website defines as indicating "universal acclaim".