Five Years of Rough and Rowdy Ways :: Bob Dylan’s Never-Ending Masterpiece
Released exactly five years ago this month on the 19th of June, 2020, what can we say about Dylan’s 39th studio album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” that hasn’t already been said, or effortlessly echoed into the volume-less void of space and time, while simultaneously stripping away the sub-floor of his iconic foundation over the last 60 some odd years? It’s tonally transcendent, mercilessly meditative, and above all, timeless as his romantic reign continues to unfold into the universe’s unique unity. Recorded in January and February 2020 at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, Dylan and his band of biblical bandits, Matt Chamberlain, the great Charlie Sexton, Tony Garnier, Donnie Herron, Bob Britt, and additional members such as Fiona Apple, Tommy Rhodes, Alan Pasqua, Benmont Tench, and the mighty Blake Mills all pulled together to poetically participate in perhaps some of the legend’s finest work since his previous 2000’s titles like “Modern Times,” “Tempest,” and 2023’s “Shadow Kingdom,” which displayed the first original material since following after “Rough and Rowdy Ways.” While most folks run out of things to say on a first date, or maybe they’ve given up on a hobby, or a project right before its true nature of deceptive difficulties appear, Dylan on the other hand finds new and exciting ways to not only bring songs to life, but keep himself intimately intense, and entertained within the ecosystem of esoteric enlightenment without skipping a beat. For over half a century, the lyrical legend and prolific poet has spun a youthful yarn of endless ecstasy, while simultaneously placing himself on top of the melodic mountain for all to hear his harmonious holiness across the clouds of cosmic connection.
Calling on engineer Chris Shaw, who worked with Dylan on previous titles like “Love and Theft" and “Modern Times,” the first written single to be released from the album was the nearly 17-minute-long manifesto “Murder Most Foul.” An absolutely tear jerking contemplation on the events that took place during the “Freewheelin’” era, you can feverishly feel the climate of the culture shifting into this sadistic similarity as the early 1960s, a period the musician knows all too well, with the political parallels we now face in America today as the visceral veteran explores the monumental melody of the past, present, and fragile future that still echoes into the ears and eyes of the world since its release half a decade later. For an album like “Rough and Rowdy Ways” to exist, does this mean several bad things had to happen in the past for the future to be so bold, determined by depth, and rich with an inconceivable amount of optimism? Specifically in this country, where the tonal topics are riddled with melodic mystery, the album is expressed by our prolific poet and prophetic protagonist with wondrous detail as we grip the edges of our seats, and hang freely from every polished phrase that falls from his lips, we realize that life is simply part of life. Nothing more, nothing less. "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," says Dyaln about the pandemic, and its ghostly grip on the globe. While the album reflects and explores so much history within its lyrical lineage, it's truly mind-boggling that its overall origin resides in the deep, dark dimensions of the Covid pandemic, the George Floyd murder, the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement, and countless other issues, and dysfunctional dooms that simultaneously surfaced whiler the world continues to break into a million different horcruxes.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Each song is explored within the dusty DNA by focusing on the total gravity of the event, moment, and flash of fear with great detail, and robust focus like that of some existential eagle soaring high above the ancient atmospheres, its wings casting a sophisticated shadow on the people, and places below, Dylan confidently captured something truly remarkable, and thank God for that. We still live in a world where Bob Dylan still occupies a flesh suit, and as I write this, I’ll be seeing him perform at the First Bank Amphitheater in Franklin, TN, for the 10th anniversary of the Outlaw Festival this Wednesday. And while I’m excited and anxious to gaze upon the stage in the distance, my eyes transfixed on the jumbo screens that display his digital demeanor in a melodic mirage, however many football fields away, I’m also nervous. I don’t want it to come and go. Our world is filled with constant chaos and inconsistencies. Dylan has always been there, standing in the salty shadows of the sea, while the fundamental foam gathers at his feet as his soldier’s stare pierces a holy hole into the spirit of all mankind. There I go again, rambling on.
