This album was chosen as one of ’s Top 100 Editor’s Picks of 2005 (#80). It served as a farewell to both the city and his marriage it was also his most fully realized record to date. This spawned 2004’s Nashville, an example of his versatile musical talent, featuring a blend of Rock, Jazz and Ballad. Before the release of his next album, Rouse’s marriage ended and he moved from Nashville to Spain. For his next record Rouse hooked up with producer Brad Jones and the resulting album in 2003, 1972, was both a homage to the soft rock sounds of Rouse’s youth and an opening up and deepening of his sound. Rouse’s second solo LP, Home, appeared the following spring and was followed by Under the Cold Blue Stars in 2002. Signing to the Rykodisc subsidiary Slow River, in 1998, Rouse issued his debut album, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, to widespread critical acclaim upon settling in Nashville, he was befriended by Kurt Wagner, frontman of the endlessly brilliant chamber country group Lambchop, and in the fall of 1999, the two singers/songwriters issued a collaborative EP, Chester.
Following his time at Austin Peay State University, he eventually settled down in Tennessee, where he met some local musicians and began recording. Rouse lived in various places in Midwest America during his childhood due to his father’s military career. From his first album, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, in 1998, he has won critical acclaim.
Josh Rouse (born 1972 in Paxton, Nebraska) is an American roots/melodic folk singer.