Josh Rouse- Nashville

Josh Rouse is one of my favourite artists. He's a Nebraskan born singer-songwriter who, in his five albums, has delivered some of the best music Americana has to offer. Luckily for us, his new record is released this month.



Artist: Josh Rouse
Album: Nashville
Label: Ryko

Release: Feb 14th
Nashville, or ‘Music City USA’, is renowned for cowboy hats and fur-wearing dames with too much make-up. By naming his 5th album after his old home town, Josh Rouse is having an inside joke. This album is not ‘Nashville’ at all. Sure there’s a pedal steel and a violin somewhere, but no one’s going to line dance to it. "I wanted to show everyone that there’s some really great music coming out of Nashville’ says Josh.

The album also marks a departure. His previous two releases, Under Cold Blue Stars and the fabulous 1972 could have been dictionary definitions of a concept album. His latest release is ‘just a collection of songs’, but it feels like that, lacking the cohesion of before. They vary in style from the acoustic opener, to the guitar-pop single Winter in the Hamptons, with it’s incredibly catchy bap-ba-da’s, to the string laden streetlights, piano ballad sad eyes, and jazzy why won’t you tell me? Josh has always been his best with straightforward guitar songs, and not all styles become him. His attempts at grandeur sometimes miss the mark but other songs rank among his best. Nashville is the sound of a mature song-writer branching out and spreading his wings.