As mentioned, veteran singer/songwriter Josh Rouse is releasing his new album Going Places on July 29 via Yep Roc (pre-order). He recently released lead single "Hollow Moon," and we're now premiering second single "Stick Around."
"I wrote this one summer while doing an outdoor show in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain," Josh tells us. "We recorded the song in a couple takes, it sounded somewhere between J.J. Cale and Fairport Convention, until I had Jim Hoke put some saxes on it and it became something else entirely. A barbecue strummer!" And here's a little more background on the album, via Josh's new bio:
Josh Rouse wrote the songs for Going Places, while hunkered down in Spain with his family in 2020 and 2021. Inspiration came from his desire to perform live, during a time when that was virtually impossible to do.
Rouse explains, “A couple of friends of mine – my Spanish band – bought a small venue, sort of like a 1950’s American bar. I said, ‘Let’s get together and play some songs in the bar - something that feels good in a smaller room. Just toe-tappers.’”
This idea turned his writing on its head– forcing him to think of songs for a live setting first. “I had four or five songs to start – ‘Waiting on the Blue,’ ‘Stick Around,’ ‘The Lonely Postman’ and ‘Apple of My Eye,’” says Rouse. Rather than the polished sheen of his prior work, the live element, and the laid back attitude of his Spanish band, added a loose and relaxed quality to the music.
“A year later, after things opened up a bit , I said ‘Why don’t we just go in and I’ll produce it, and let’s just record these songs and see what happens? And that’s what the Going Places record is - stuff that just felt good to play to a live audience.”
You can definitely hear that laid-back, looser feel coming through in "Stick Around," a song that's warm, welcoming, unpretentious, and serves as a promising taste of the new LP. Check it out below...
Josh Rouse Going Places
Tracklist 1. Apple Of My Eye 2. City Dog 3. Henry Miller's Flat 4. Hollow Moon 5. Waiting On The Blue 6. She's In L.A. 7. There's Somebody Whose Job It Is 8. The Lonely Postman 9. Indian Summer 10. Stick Around
