Rough and Rowdy Ways is the 39thstudio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 19, 2020 by Columbia Records. 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 standards. It features contributions from several musicians, including Fiona Apple, Benmont Tench and Alan Pasqua. The album was preceded by the singles "Murder Most Foul", "I Contain Multitudes", and "False Prophet". Rough and Rowdy Ways was universally praised by critics, and was described as one of Dylan's best works. It peaked at No. 1 in more than ten countries and No. 2 in the United States and Australia.
Release
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", a second single, was released. Rough and Rowdy Ways was officially announced on May 8, 2020. Rough and Rowdy Ways was released as a double album, with the entirety of the second CD and the entirety of the last side of the vinyl editing dedicated to "Murder Most Foul". The album's third single, "False Prophet", was released on the same day. On June 11, 2020, Bob Dylan's YouTube channel revealed the full tracklist.
Critical reception
Rough and Rowdy Ways was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 95, based on 22 reviews. Reviewing for The Daily Telegraph in June 2020, Neil McCormick 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, reviewing for Hot Press, said "Rough and Rowdy Ways is a record we need right now, and it will endure." Mikael Wood, in the Los Angeles Times, said the album "rolls out one marvel after another." Writing for Slate, 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, 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 and Love and Theft." Writing for The Telegraph India, Jaimin Rajani said this release brings respite and diversity. Ken Tucker of NPR's Fresh Air gave the release a positive review for its musical diversity. In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau 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", 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."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 with 53,000 units, Dylan's highest-charting album in more than a decade. It marked his seventh consecutive decade of charting top 40 albums.
