Josh Rouse has signed to New West Records and will release his label debut Museums and Women on October 23. The 10-song set was produced by Brad Jones, who also produced Rouse’s critically acclaimed 2003 album 1972. Museums and Women showcases Rouse at his most hopeful and romantic, balancing casual poetry and wry humor in equal measure as he conjures up a cast full of drifters and dreamers moving through life with quiet satisfaction. The music is often bittersweet, with a gentle, seemingly placid surface that belies the deep well of emotion and memory and desire underneath. The result is a lush, cinematic exploration of the endless stream of passing strangers who slip in and out of our lives on a daily basis.
Hailed by NPR as “one of contemporary music’s most engaging singer-songwriters,” Rouse first emerged with his stunning 1998 debut, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, which Billboard proclaimed to be a “dark horse gem.” In the years to come, he would go on to release thirteen more critically acclaimed albums, homing in on a warm, ruminative sound that fused elements of vintage folk, roots rock, and AM pop with a distinctly modern and emotionally insightful perspective. Q Magazine called his 2003 breakout release, 1972 “the most intimate record of the year,” while Rolling Stone dubbed his follow-up, Nashville, “a landmark album,” and Entertainment Weekly described 2013’s The Happiness Waltz as “a big contender for Rouse’s best work.” After moving to Spain, where he lived for a little more than a decade, Rouse won a Goya (the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar) for his song “Do You Really Want To Be In Love,” and since returning to Nashville in 2018 with his wife and children, has continued to tour and record at a relentless clip, performing everywhere from Glastonbury to Massey Hall.
Museums and Women will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited Cream White color vinyl edition and a limited compact disc edition both autographed by Josh Rouse will be available at Independent Retailers and are also available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
