Rouse

According to his MySpace page, Josh Rouse inhabits an as-yet-undiscovered part of New York City: Valencia, Brooklyn. A closer look debunks the neighborhood’s existence, but the imaginary location is telling of Rouse’s recent, and continued, nomadism.

A self-professed ’70s singer-songwriter with strong ties to the alt-country world, Rouse moved to Spain in 2004 after a number of years traveling within the US, including an extended stay in Nashville. It is perhaps because Rouse has remained itinerant for much of his career that place—the rhythms, quirks, and character of a town, street, or city—has figured so prominently in his work. While the singer is loath to discuss sources of inspiration for his records, his albums often provide a reflection on the place in which they were conceived and recorded, from Nashville to the more recent Subtítulo.

After extensive touring throughout Europe and North America in support of his most recent record, City Mouse, Country House (the tour included a six-day stint on a Caribbean cruise with fellow folk luminaries Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, and Emmylou Harris), Rouse brings his musings on place, time, and, with any luck, the Big Apple to the third season of City Folk^® Live at Zankel, where he follows on performances by the Cowboy Junkies, Dar Williams, and Joan Osborne.

Providing a look at that most nebulous of contemporary genres—modern folk—while celebrating the work of select singer-songwriters, the series is a perfect stage for Rouse’s music, which negotiates the large gray area between folk, country, and indie-rock. Following in a long tradition of folk musicians who would prefer to leave the talking to critics, Rouse is content to let his music to speak for itself, allowing the audience—and pundits—to attach or find their own meaning. It may be for this very reason that Rouse’s music, whether evocative of a western landscape, a sun-drenched decade, or simply a quiet afternoon, is so successful at bringing the audience into its world, a world all the richer and more discerning for the breadth of its variegated materials.