Folk musician Josh looks to summer gig
American folk singer Josh Rouse is busy tuning up ahead of his summer Stirling show.
The 46-year-old artist, who has been making music since the 1990s, will take to the stage at the Tolbooth on July 7.
Rouse takes influences from indie pop and alt-country and audiences in the city are sure to enjoy tracks from his soon to be released new record Love in the Modern Age.
He said: Every time I’ve made a record I’ve tried to make it different from the last one.
“I’ve always become fascinated by a different style of music, but at the end of the day, no matter how eclectic I try to make it, it’s my voice and melodic sensibility that tie things together.”
He was born in Nebraska and began writing songs at the age of 18, but after a nomadic childhood he eventually landed in Nashville where he recorded his 1998 debut Dressed Like Nebraska.
The album’s acclaim led to tours with the likes of Aimee Mann, Mark Etzel and the late Vic Chestnut.
And his follow-up record Home, which was released in 2000, yielded the track‘Directions’which Cameron Crowe used in his film Vanilla Sky.
His big breakthrough came three years later with the release of‘1972’ – the year he was born.
He says that on this record he decided to cheer things up, noting that he’d gathered a reputation for melancholy. He added:“I figured this is my career. I might as well try to enjoy it.”
In 2005 he released‘Nashville’his last album while based in the United States before relocating to Valencia, Spain with his wife Paz.
Since then he has released a string of high-quality tracks and albums. Subtitulo in 2006 contained the international folk hit ‘Quiet Town’and on 2010’s El Turista he even experimented with writing and singing some songs in Spanish.
In 2014 he won a Goya Award – which is widely recognised as the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar – for best song for‘Do You Really Want To Be In Love’which featured in the film‘La Gran Familia Espanola’.
The following year he released Embers of Time – a record he described as his“surreal, ex-pat therapy record”.
Tickets for the seated show are still on sale at £15. For more information go to culturestirling. org.
Must be aged 14 or older. Those under the age of 16 should be accompanied by an adult.