New Bob Dylan album "Tempest" set for September release

U.S. musician Bob Dylan performs during on day 2 of The Hop Festival in Paddock Wood, Kent on June 30th 2012.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new Bob Dylan studio album, "Tempest", will be released on September 11th to mark the 50th anniversary of the folk singer-songwriter's debut album, Columbia Records said on Tuesday.

The album will feature 10 new and original songs and is the 35th studio set from Dylan, whose last album in 2009, "Together Through Life," sold more than a million copies and debuted at No. 1 in both Britain and the United States.

The album comes during a period of critical acclaim and creativity for Dylan that has included four popular album releases, including "Time Out Of Mind" in 1997 that won a Grammy for album of the year and "Modern Times," released in 2006, earning Dylan two more Grammys.

The Minnesota-born Dylan, 71, this year received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his profound impact on popular music and American culture.

His first album, "Bob Dylan," which was released in March, 1962, initially did not sell well. His second album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," released in 1963, established him as a poetic writer of protest songs and a raw, original new voice.

(Reporting By Christine Kearney, editing by Patricia Reaney; Desking by Andrew Hay)