It may have been 15+ years – from roots in rural Nebraska, through time in ‘Music City’ Nashville, TN, and to the current day relocated to a new home in cosmopolitan Spain – but it seems that the song spirits have been constant companions for Josh Rouse.
Maybe no more so than on the singer-songwriter’s latest record, The Happiness Waltz, an album that marries both his past, and present – revisiting an earlier era, where his music was heavily influenced by the ‘soft rock’ of the 70’s, and combining it with lyrical tales drawn from the here and now – his modern day-to-day life, one deeply enriched by his children and family.
Rouse has been lauded for his special talents – creating little slices of heaven with words and music that have captured the hearts and minds of both critics, and fans, the globe over, whether it is the New York Times talking about his “pop-folk introspection”, Filter lauding the “wide-eyed ‘thank you, ma’am’ songs that could have grated in their earnest angle if they weren’t so damn wonderfully executed” or Uncut raving about the music as “warm, molten gold, a long bath in the serenity of well-gauged bittersweet balladry” and proclaiming him “a talent to outrank Ryan Adams or Conor Oberst.” Over a storied career, from the engaging debut Dressed Like Nebraska, through his ‘golden era’ with 1972 and Nashville, and right down to the 2011 latin-bossa nova-tinged release …and the Long Vacations, Rouse has created a series of unique, and distinctive records, filled with sparkling melodies and enchanting lyrics.
