Rough and Rowdy Ways

Rough and Rowdy Ways is the 39th studio album by Bob Dylan. It was one of his most praised since 2012's Tempest, following the "Sinatra Trilogy" of Shadows in the Night (2015), Fallen Angels (2016), Triplicate (2017). It is Dylan's first release of original material since Tempest. It is compiled of calm folk, Americana, and rowdy blues numbers.

Background
In the late 2010s, Bob Dylan had barely done anything original musically, only releasing installments for The Bootleg Series. He hadn't released new music since 2017's Triplicate, and original new music since 2012's Tempest. In January 2020, Dylan assembled his most recent band with bassist Tony Garnier, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and guitarist Charlie Sexton. Garnier was the oldest member of the band, joining in 1989. Chamberlain was the most recent, joining in 2019. This iteration of the band had joined Dylan for his Fall tour in 2019.

In February 2020, Dylan brought in Blake Mills, who plays guitar on 8 of the 10 tracks – he also brought in Donnie Perron who plays accordion and violin on the album. He also brought in Robert Britt for acoustic guitar and Fiona Apple for piano and vocals. The album was completed that month.

The silence was broken on March 27, 2020, when Dylan released a single called "Murder Most Foul", his first original song in 8 years and also his longest. It was praised and joked about for its runtime and subject matter (the John F. Kennedy assassination and how American culture shifted around it). It was released in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the apex of the pandemic in April, Dylan canceled all the shows for the upcoming 2020 Japan Tour and the 2020 US Summer Tour. The second single for the yet-to-be-announced album was released on April 17, 2020 – about 30 days after the first one. It was called "I Contain Multitudes". It was praised and criticized for its approach to lyrics in a flow of consciousness manner, some calling it "lazy" and "meaningless".

On May 8, 2020, the third and final single, "False Prophet", was released, along with the announcement of Rough and Rowdy Ways. The single was praised as a return to form, and the album was very accepted by fans and non-fans alike. On June 19, 2020, the album was released to a lot of critical and fan praise – Rolling Stone led a very elusive interview with Dylan, The New York Times did as well.

Content
The album features a neat 10 original songs, and released on 2 vinyl discs and 2 CDs. "Murder Most Foul" takes up all of Side Four and Disc Two, respectively. The album features many folk ballads and blues songs (most based off of other, earlier R'n'R and blues songs), like "I Contain Multitudes" and "Mother of Muses" (mellow and calm) or "False Prophet" and "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" (rough and rowdy). Other songs, like "Black Rider" and "My Own Version of You" feature Blake Mills' signature guitar chord shapes and weird, chromatic scales and bass lines.

Reception
The album debuted at Number 2 on the Billboard 200 with 53,000 units. It is Dylan's most-selling album in 10 years. It also marks his 7th consecutive decade of making Top 40 albums (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and now 2020s). It was also critically acclaimed and praised by fans – oft called one of his greatest works since Tempest or even 1997's Time Out of Mind. It was given an average score of 88 / 100 based on 28 reviews. It was not given praise by Anthony Fantano, giving it a 5 / 10.

Track listing

 * 1) "I Contain Multitudes" – 4:36
 * 2) "False Prophet" – 6:00
 * 3) "My Own Version of You" – 6:41
 * 4) "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" – 6:32
 * 5) "Black Rider" – 4:13
 * 6) "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" – 4:14
 * 7) "Mother of Muses" – 4:29
 * 8) "Crossing the Rubicon" – 7:22
 * 9) "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" – 9:34
 * 10) "Murder Most Foul" – 16:54


 * On CD, Tracks 1–9 are Disc 1, Track 10 is Disc 2.
 * On Vinyl, Tracks 1–3 are Side 1, 4–6 are Side 2, 7–9 are Side 3, and 10 is Side 4.

Personnel
The Bob Dylan Band


 * Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica
 * Charlie Sexton – electric guitar (9, 10), backing vocals (4)
 * Tony Garnier – bass guitar, acoustic bass (5, 7)
 * Robert Britt – acoustic guitar (10)
 * Donnie Perron – accordion (9), violin (10)
 * Matt Chamberlain – drums (2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9), percussion (5), bass drum (7)

Additional musicians


 * Blake Mills – electric guitar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
 * Fiona Apple – piano (10), backing vocals (4)
 * Benmont Tench – Hammond organ (6, 10)
 * Alan Pasqua – piano (10)