It was released under the moniker Bonnie "Prince" Billy on Drag City in 2009.

Critical response to Beware was generally favorable and positive.

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 74 ("Generally favorable reviews"), based on 32 professional reviews, and the average user rating for the album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 12 users' votes.

[12] Ben Ratliff of The New York Times gave a positive review of the album, writing: "There's a sense here of smart people being made to focus on a strange project.

"[13] All tracks are written by Will OldhamBacking band Special guests