I was kind of doing that, anyway, with Rykodisc. I finished the contract.īE: And you just decided to do your own thing…? They’re marketing and distributing the record. ( All of Rouse’s previous albums were released on Rykodisc or one of their subsidiaries.) The first thing I noticed, though, is that you’re on Nettwerk now. You never know.īE: I think I’m innocent in this particular case.īE: Well, as it stands at the moment, I’ve only been able to hear a few tracks from your new album, but what I’ve heard, I’ve loved…and I’ve got everything you’ve put out in the past, so…īE: Absolutely.
I thought maybe we went to the same school. JR: Huh? Oh, no, there was this guy named Will Harris who was always getting called down to the principal’s office. JR: Oh, God, and they called you to the principal’s office?īE: Yeah, me and all the other guys involved. Did you ever get called down to the principal’s office when you were younger?īE: Uh…only once, when I was in third grade, when I was part of a group that accidentally broke a window in a classroom door.
I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dragging you down too much. JR: Ah, I had a couple more interviews before this one.īE: Oh, good. His attempts to chat with Bullz-Eye from Valencia, Spain, were thwarted at one point, but, by God, he persisted and called us back, giving us the opportunity to needle him about his new disc, his profile in Europe, his “borrowing” of a riff from Johnny Marr, and what it’s like to work with Brad Jones and Kurt Wagner.īE: So how much press have you been doing today? Josh Rouse, in addition to being a singer/songwriter who’s rightfully received no end of plaudits for his albums on Rykodisc (not to mention his latest release, Subtitulo, on Nettwerk), is a man who knows how merciless and unforgiving an international calling card can be. I wanted to write something that folks hadn't heard before, something they could listen to year round.Music Home / Entertainment Channel / Bullz-Eye Home I decided that if I was going to make a holiday record, I didn't want to load it up with sleigh bells and choirs and sing the same old standards that everybody else has already sung, says Rouse. The result is a holiday record built for the long haul, a wholesome, whip smart collection that's guaranteed to stay with you well after the snow has melted and all the decorations have come down. The arrangements are eclectic and intoxicating, drawing equal influence from Rouse's Midwestern childhood and his decade and a half spent living in Spain, and the performances here are sparkling and fizzy to match, blending jazz sophistication with rootsy sincerity and sly crooner charm. Nick in a suit and sunglasses there's a lonely ex pat waiting by the mailbox for cards that never seem to come. Written off and on over the course of the last ten years, the record is joyful and festive of course, but, much like the holiday season itself, it's also laced with an undercurrent of longing and melancholy.įor every playful portrait of giddy lovers on New Year's Eve, there's a stranded traveler spending Christmas alone for every slick St.
It makes sense, then, that The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse isn't your typical yuletide collection. Growing up, I remember hearing Vince Guaraldi and Bing Crosby and all the staples everybody listens to each winter, but I never collected Christmas music or anything like that. I was never a holiday record kind of guy, he laughs. Josh Rouse never planned on making a holiday record.