Rough and Rowdy Ways
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''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' is the 39th studio album by American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, released on June 19, 2020, through
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. It is Dylan's first album of original songs since his 2012 album '' Tempest'', following three releases, one a triple album, that covered
traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...
standards. The album was recorded at Sound City Studios in January and February 2020. The session musicians included all of the then-current members of Dylan's Never Ending Tour band alongside other musicians, such as
Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malibu ...
and
Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...
. The album's sound was described by critics as Americana,
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,
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
. ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' was preceded by the singles " Murder Most Foul", "
I Contain Multitudes "I Contain Multitudes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the opening track on his 39th studio album, ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' (2020). It was released as the album's second single on April 17, 2020, through Columbia Records. The ...
" and " False Prophet"; "Murder Most Foul" became Dylan's first song to top any US ''
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'' chart. The album was universally praised by critics, described as being one of Dylan's best works and placing highly in many year-end album lists, including the top spot on four lists. It peaked at No. 1 in more than ten countries and No. 2 in the United States and Australia.


Background

The recording of ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' closely followed the end of the fall 2019 leg of Dylan's Never Ending Tour, during which he had introduced two new band members: drummer Matt Chamberlain (who replaced the outgoing George Receli) and guitarist Bob Britt (who had previously played on Dylan's
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-winning 1997 album ''Time Out of Mind''). Several critics described the shows on this tour as Dylan's best in years. Tony Garnier, Dylan's bass player since 1989, concurred. When asked in an interview in 2021 if there was anything he wanted to share about his 30+ years of playing with Dylan, Garnier responded, "The last gigs we did before the
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hit were, I think, the best shows ever ... It's the most incredible band that he has now ... By the time we got to the Beacon Theatre in
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, it was just incredible. It was so good. And I talked to people who had seen Bob for years and people who've worked with him and fans who've seen him, and they'd tell me after that last tour ... that ended before we recorded this record, people thought it absolutely was the best shows that they'd seen, and I agree ... just the best, really the best, Bob gigs that I've been involved with".


Writing

It is not known when Dylan wrote the songs for ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' although it is possible, as with his previous album of original material, ''Tempest'', that he may have been working on them with his band during soundchecks on the last tour before they went into the studio to record. Musically, it is one of Dylan's most diverse albums. It mixes acoustic folk songs ("
I Contain Multitudes "I Contain Multitudes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the opening track on his 39th studio album, ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' (2020). It was released as the album's second single on April 17, 2020, through Columbia Records. The ...
", " Black Rider", "
Mother of Muses "Mother of Muses" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the seventh track on his 2020 album ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. It is a spare and meditative acoustic folk song in which the first person ...
", " Key West (Philosopher Pirate)") with electric blues stomps (" False Prophet", "
Goodbye Jimmy Reed "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" is an uptempo blues song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the sixth track on his 2020 album '' Rough and Rowdy Ways''. A tribute to blues giant Jimmy Reed, the song has been si ...
", "
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"), a torch ballad ("
I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the fourth track on his 2020 album ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. The song is performed in 6/8 time and has a lilt ...
"), and a couple of unconventional songs that are more difficult to classify ("
My Own Version of You "My Own Version of You" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the third track on his 2020 album ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. Inspired by Mary Shelley's novel ''Frankenstein'', this darkly comica ...
", " Murder Most Foul"). Some of the music was apparently written in the studio: as drummer Matt Chamberlain explained in an interview, " ylanmight have like a reference point for a groove or a feel and then we'll just kind of jam on that. And then he'll start trying to sing over it, and then he'll get on the piano and add some extra chords and we'll kind of work out the arrangement, and the next thing you know we've tracked the song". ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' has been referred to by critics as one of Dylan's wordiest and most lyrically dense albums (in addition to being his longest song temporally, "Murder Most Foul" has the highest word count of any Dylan song) as well as being one of the most cohesive. The "referentiality" of the songs (most obvious in "Murder Most Foul", which features a litany of song titles, but also evident in "I Contain Multitudes", "My Own Version of You" and others) has been much commented upon. The songs on the album also feature many overlapping themes, such as the process of creating art, the role of the artist in society and the purpose of art through the ages (from
classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
to the present day), the assassination of political figures, and religion, death and the afterlife. When asked in an interview about the striking lyric, "I sleep with life and death in the same bed", in the song "I Contain Multitudes", Dylan denied that the line was written in reference to his own mortality: "I think about the death of the human race. The long strange trip of the naked ape. Not to be light on it, but everybody's life is so transient. Every human being, no matter how strong or mighty, is frail when it comes to death. I think about it in general terms, not in a personal way".


Recording

The 10 songs on ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' were recorded in January and February 2020 at Sound City Studios in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The sessions for the album were engineered and mixed by Chris Shaw who had previously engineered and mixed Dylan's albums ''Modern Times'' in 2006 and ''Love and Theft'' in 2001. The core band for these sessions consisted of the latest iteration of the Never Ending Tour band, which had just played together across the United States for the first time for a total of 39 shows. In addition to Matt Chamberlain, Bob Britt and Tony Garnier, mentioned above, the group included Never Ending Tour band mainstays
Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the Ar ...
on guitar and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron. The sessions also featured contributions from "additional musicians"
Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malibu ...
,
Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...
, Benmont Tench, Alan Pasqua and Tommy Rhodes. Fiona Apple and Alan Pasqua both played piano on the nearly 17-minute " Murder Most Foul", the only track on which either musician appears, and recorded their parts in a single day. "I told Bob I was really insecure about it", Apple relayed in an interview with ''Pitchfork'', "and he was really encouraging and nice. He was just like, 'You're not here to be perfect, you're here to be you. When asked in an interview how much "latitude" he had on what he played, guitarist Bob Britt responded, "You just play what fits the song. It is all guided by Bob, it may happen quickly or it may take a while to get it to where he likes it. It is really a beautiful process to watch how he crafts a song". Drummer Matt Chamberlain has similarly described the recording process as spontaneous: " ylans so last-minute, in-the-moment about the way he makes his records. It's almost like playing with a poet jazz musician because he's just always changing it up; anything can happen at any time, things can just get trashed and we'll do a whole new version of a song. He's amazing". Blake Mills, who serves as a "sort of in-house producer" at Sound City, is believed by many to have made a substantial impact on the overall sound of ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. Mills wrote on
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on the day of the album's release that working with Dylan was "the one thing I have always dreamt of doing, and it turned out to be better than the dream", and posted videos of himself playing instrumental versions of seven of the ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' songs solo on guitar. Dylanologist Trev Gibb concluded that "the album would have in no way been as musically elegant without his parts, if indeed these are the parts he played". In a
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"AMA" session in 2021, Mills expounded on Dylan's process during the recording of the album: "One thing that was incredibly inspiring for me about those sessions was witnessing how incredibly dedicated ylanis to the story in the song. Everything we did was in the interest of that, and he's kind of the only arbiter of when he's doing it and when it's not quite there yet. It's not always an immediately knowable thing, sometimes you gotta sleep on something you're happy with for a day or two before you realize it's not where it ultimately needs to be. There were a lot of lessons in 'letting go' for me, working on that album". When asked about Dylan's approach versus more "modern" approaches, Mills added, "As for 'modern' vs 'classic' approaches to record making, all I can say is there were some BOLD things we did and got away with on those sessions that nobody hears. I don't mean effects or auto-tune or anything like that. We were all inspired by 'old' sounds and 'old' methods, but HOW we got those sounds and the methods we used were not by any means 'classic' or 'correct. Dylan had contacted his former collaborator
Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...
of The Band in late 2019 about possibly playing on the album, even reading him new song lyrics over the phone. Robertson regretted having to turn the opportunity down, noting that he was "slammed" with work on various other projects at the time and that Dylan "felt like it was cooked and he needed to bring it out of the oven. So he went in and recorded this album". In the 2022 edition of their book ''Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track'', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon describe Dylan as having "confided" in an unnamed source that the recording of ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' "was his favorite studio experience".


Release and promotion

The first indication in the press that Dylan had been working on an album of new material came via an interview with actress Gina Gershon, a longtime friend of Dylan's, on an episode of the ''Life is Short with Justin Long'' podcast that premiered on March 3, 2020. Gershon told Long, "I guess
his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...
was like two months ago. ... ylanwas at his studio in L.A. ... He read me some lyrics he was writing and he was all excited. He was like, 'Do you want to hear this?' ... I was thinking, 'Oh my God, this is so cool'. You could see why he still loves doing what he does. He was excited". On March 27, 2020, the single " Murder Most Foul" was released unannounced, Dylan's first original song distributed since 2012. On April 17, 2020, "
I Contain Multitudes "I Contain Multitudes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the opening track on his 39th studio album, ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' (2020). It was released as the album's second single on April 17, 2020, through Columbia Records. The ...
", a second single, was released. ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' was officially announced on May 8, 2020. The album's third and final single, " False Prophet", was released on the same day. On June 11, 2020, Bob Dylan's
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channel revealed the full track list for the first time, only eight days before the album's release. ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' was released as a
double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
on June 19, 2020, with the entirety of the second CD and the entirety of the last side of the vinyl edition dedicated to "Murder Most Foul". Dylan only consented to one interview, with historian
Douglas Brinkley Douglas Brinkley (born December 14, 1960) is an American author, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, and professor of history at Rice University. Brinkley is the history commentator for CNN, Presidential Historian for the New York Histori ...
, to promote the album. In a transcript of their wide-ranging conversation, which appeared in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' on June 12, 2020, Dylan discussed the composition of the ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' songs (which he claims were written in a "trance state") and offered his thoughts on everything from the
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("Maybe we are on the eve of destruction. There are numerous ways you can think about this virus. I think you just have to let it run its course".) and the murder of
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("It was beyond ugly. Let's hope that justice comes swift for the Floyd family and for the nation".) to his favorite songs by
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and the
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. Dylan announced on September 27, 2021, via his official website, a new tour called the
Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour is the current ongoing tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in support of his 39th studio album '' Rough and Rowdy Ways'' (2020). The tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 2, 2021 and is sched ...
, spanning 2021–2024, with dates beginning in November. The first leg of the tour consisted of 21 dates in the midwestern and eastern United States, the first live shows Dylan had played since the album's release. Dylan played eight of the 10 songs from ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' at every show on this leg of the tour, which was acclaimed by critics, some of whom noted that it was rare for a "legacy artist" to focus so extensively on recent material in live performance.


Packaging

The album cover features a color-tinted version of a black-and-white photograph taken by British photojournalist Ian Berry in 1964. On assignment from the ''Observer'', Berry was tasked with capturing images of "black culture in England" when he snapped a picture of a well-dressed couple dancing while a man leans on a jukebox behind them. The location is a "long-defunct underground club on Cable Street in the
East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
town of Whitechapel". Describing the album cover in ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', music journalist Andy Greene wrote that "the image crackles with intrigue and romance". The only text to appear on the cover is the album's title, which is widely believed to be a reference to the 1929
Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...
song "My Rough and Rowdy Ways". The inside covers of the vinyl album and the CD both feature a cropped, colorized version of a famous photograph of Rodgers and the Carter Family that was originally taken in
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, on June 10, 1931. The back covers of both the vinyl album and CD releases feature a cropped and partially sepia-tinted black-and-white photograph of
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
, a portrait taken by
Louis Fabian Bachrach Jr. Louis Fabian Bachrach Jr. (April 9, 1917 – February 26, 2010) was an American photographer, known for portraits of celebrities, politicians, presidents and other prominent individuals. He was professionally known as Fabian. Bachrach was best k ...
, that was originally used to promote the single of "Murder Most Foul" upon its release in March 2020. The vinyl album sleeves contain additional images of the artwork used for the "
I Contain Multitudes "I Contain Multitudes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the opening track on his 39th studio album, ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' (2020). It was released as the album's second single on April 17, 2020, through Columbia Records. The ...
" and " False Prophet" singles that are not included in the CD artwork. The album design is credited to John Cheuse.


Critical reception and legacy

''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' was met with widespread critical acclaim, and earned Dylan his highest ratings since '' Love and Theft'' (2001). At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 95 based on 25 reviews, making it the second highest-rated album of 2020 (behind only
Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...
's ''
Fetch the Bolt Cutters ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. It was released on April 17, 2020, Apple's first release since '' The Idler Wheel...'' in 2012. The album was recorded from 2015 to 2020, largely at ...
''). With 31 reviews, aggregator Album of the Year considers critical consensus as an 89 out of 100 and
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sums up 24 critics with an 8.93 out of 10. Reviewing for ''
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'' in June 2020,
Neil McCormick Neil McCormick (born 31 March 1961) is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster. He has been Chief Music Critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' since 1996, and presented a music interview show for Vintage TV in the UK, Neil McCormick's Nee ...
hailed the album as "one long, magnificent ride for his most loyal fans" and declared, "The wise old poet has stirred up a cryptic cauldron of truths and clues, philosophy, myths and magic". Anne Margaret Daniel, writing in '' Hot Press'', said "''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' is a record we need right now, and it will endure". "Academics who can’t dance will fill unread books dissecting the library of historical reference, and the cast of characters engrained in these grooves", wrote Pat Carty in his review of the album for the same magazine, "The rest of us can just be thankful that the greatest song and dance man of them all is still rolling". Mikael Wood, in the ''
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'', said the album "rolls out one marvel after another". Writing for ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', Carl Wilson called the release Dylan's best in "many years, maybe decades" for the breadth of its cultural references and the depth of Dylan's lyrics and songwriting. Jon Pareles, chief music critic for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', labeled the album a "Critic's Pick", describing its songs as "equal parts death-haunted and cantankerous", rivaling "the grim, gallows-humored conviction of his albums '' Time Out of Mind'' (1997) and '' Love and Theft'' (2001)". Sam Sodomsky, in a 9.0/10 review at ''Pitchfork'', wrote that the vaudevillian spirit that ran through ''Love and Theft'' and ''Modern Times'' (2006) is mostly limited to the ''
Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
''-themed "
My Own Version of You "My Own Version of You" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the third track on his 2020 album ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. Inspired by Mary Shelley's novel ''Frankenstein'', this darkly comica ...
" and that Dylan's "biting, absurdist humor is not the focus. There are no distractions; he speaks carefully, quietly, earnestly. It results in a gorgeous and meticulous record. The lyrics are striking—dense enough to inspire a curriculum, clever enough to quote like proverbs". ''
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''s Kerry Doole gave the album a perfect rating of 10, praising its allusions to "old blues songs, Shakespeare, classical mythology ('
Crossing the Rubicon The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The exact date is unknown. Scholars us ...
'), the Bible and pop culture", drawing literary parallels between Dylan's work and that of authors Don DeLillo and
James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...
, and asking "why intellectual references are so rare in contemporary music". Writing for ''
The Telegraph India ''The Telegraph'' is an Indian English daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 7 July 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper competes with ''The Times of India''. The newspaper is the eighth most-wid ...
'',
Jaimin Rajani Jaimin Rajani (born on 30 June 1991 in Bombay) is a singer-songwriter and documentary filmmaker from Calcutta, India. He writes songs into the traditions of folk and rock music. As a producer, Jaimin has worked on the albums ‘Then & Now’ (20 ...
said this release brings respite and diversity.
Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...
of NPR's '' Fresh Air'' gave the release a positive review for its musical diversity. In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column,
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
said that the album's impact is "muffled" by some "indistinct" songs, namely " Black Rider" and "
I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the fourth track on his 2020 album ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''. The song is performed in 6/8 time and has a lilt ...
", but declared, "The decisive musical achievement on Dylan's first album of originals since 2012 is establishing the aged voice that flubbed his Sinatra albums as the sonic signature of an elegiac retrospective". Although not released as a single, the penultimate track, the nine-and-a-half minute " Key West (Philosopher Pirate)", inspired substantial critical commentary. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked it the second best song of 2020 and placed it seventh on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century". In an article accompanying the latter list, music journalist Rob Sheffield extrapolated from the impressionistic lyrics a narrative about "a grizzled outlaw, hiding out in Florida, hounded by his memories". Authors
Adam Selzer Adam Selzer (born July 13, 1980, in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American author, originally of young adult and middle grade novels, though his work after 2011 had primarily been adult nonfiction. Biography Adam Selzer's first novel was ''How To Get ...
and Michael Glover Smith have drawn thematic parallels between "Key West" and
Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...
and Yip Harburg's " Over the Rainbow" and Dylan's own " Murder Most Foul", respectively. Historian
Douglas Brinkley Douglas Brinkley (born December 14, 1960) is an American author, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, and professor of history at Rice University. Brinkley is the history commentator for CNN, Presidential Historian for the New York Histori ...
, who conducted the only interview with Dylan to coincide with the album's release, described the song as "a beautiful piece of art," adding that "Dylan knows it's my favorite on the CD". A 2021 '' WhatCulture'' article ranking all of Dylan's albums placed ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' ninth (out of 39 total) and summarized it thusly: "A lyrically dense, brooding and beautifully balanced record, ''Rough And Rowdy Ways'' is yet another spotless masterclass in storytelling, best listened to in one sitting to make the most of its purposefully repetitive, circular composition ... Despite pushing 80, ''Rough And Rowdy Ways'' finds Dylan still producing some of the best music on offer. It's really quite spectacular". Ian O'Riordan, in a 2021 ''Irish Times'' article, also placed ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' ninth in the Dylan pantheon and cited "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" as his favourite track. In the 2022 edition of their book ''Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track'', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon call the album a "poetic balm" for a world in "profound turmoil", claiming it should be "placed somewhere between ''
Highway 61 Revisited ''Highway 61 Revisited'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on ever ...
'', ''
Blonde on Blonde ''Blonde on Blonde'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as a double album on June 20, 1966, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, ...
'' and ''
Blood on the Tracks ''Blood on the Tracks'' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975, by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dy ...
'' - in other words, on the same level as his masterworks". In addition to being widely acclaimed by critics, ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' and its individual tracks have also been highly praised by many of Dylan's fellow artists including
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
,
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
, Keith Richards,
Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
,
Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...
,
Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alon ...
,
Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
, Phoebe Bridgers,
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
,
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
, Sharon Van Etten,
Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...
,
Ann Wilson Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
,
Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...
,
Alison Mosshart Alison Nicole Mosshart (born November 23, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and the lead vocalist for the rock bands The Kills and The Dead Weather. She started her musical career in 1995 with the Florida punk rock band Discoun ...
, Wilco,
Eleanor Friedberger Eleanor Friedberger (born September 2, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces, alongside her older brother Matthew Friedberger. In the band she co ...
,
Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...
, Margo Price, and Todd Haynes, director of the Dylan biopic '' I'm Not There''.


Commercial performance

''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' was the best-selling album in the United States the week it debuted (although it charted at No. 2 behind Lil Baby's ''My Turn'' due to streaming and individual track sales), with 54,700
equivalent album unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s. This made it Dylan's highest-charting album on the ''Billboard'' 200 in more than a decade. It also marked his seventh consecutive decade of charting top 40 albums, making him the first artist to accomplish this feat. The album additionally debuted at No. 1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk albums charts. On the latter list, Dylan extended his record as the all-time leader with eight No. 1 albums, dating to the chart's 2009 inception. Dylan also topped ''Billboard'''s
Artist 100 The Artist 100 is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. The ''Billboard'' Artist 100 combines performance across the Hot 100 chart, the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart, and the Internet-centric Social 50 chart. The Artist 10 ...
chart on July 4, 2020, to become the "top musical act in the U.S." for the first time in his career (dating to the chart's launch in 2014). At 79-years-old, he is the "most-senior act" to ever top this chart.


Accolades


Track listing

All tracks written by Bob Dylan.


Vinyl edition


CD edition


Personnel

Musicians *
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
– vocals, guitar, harmonica *
Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the Ar ...
– guitar *Bob Britt– guitar *Donnie Herron– steel guitar, violin, accordion, mandolin * Tony Garnier– bass guitar, acoustic bass * Matt Chamberlain– drums Additional musicians *
Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malibu ...
- guitar, harmonium on "Murder Most Foul" * Benmont Tench - Hammond organ on "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" and "Murder Most Foul" * Alan Pasqua– piano on "Murder Most Foul" *
Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...
– piano on "Murder Most Foul" *Tommy Rhodes Engineers *Chris Shaw–
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, mixing *Joseph Lorge– assistant engineering * Greg Calbimastering Artwork * Ian Berry– front cover photo *Josh Cheuse– album design *Andrea Orlandi– inner sleeve photo on vinyl edition (also used in video for "I Contain Multitudes")


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References


External links


''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' full album on Bob Dylan's YouTube channel''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' lyrics at Bob Dylan's official site
* ttp://www.bjorner.com/DSN40510%20-%20Rough%20And%20Rowdy%20Ways.pdf ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' recording session info at Olof Bjorner's Still on the Road* * {{Authority control 2020 albums Bob Dylan albums Columbia Records albums Americana albums Blues albums by American artists Folk albums by American artists Rhythm and blues albums by American artists