More importantly, those words fill a gorgeous, swooning melody that almost leaves you with a “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”-type chill. “We’ll sleep on rooftops / We’ll ride on bicycles / Baby we’ll get married / Don’t you want to, sweetie?”, Rouse sings. It opens with “Sweetie”, a country-tinged song about a star-crossed couple right out of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The first half of Country Mouse is much better. But for many Rouse fans, it just wasn’t the same. The guy whose best album, 2002’s Under Cold Blue Stars, was a concept record that tracked the trials and triumphs of the American Dream across generations, was now singing about “watermelon, fingerbangin’, Purple Rain and being cool”. But the emotional edge that had characterized his best work was gone, as was a lot of the melodic staying power of his songwriting. It also saw him fully embrace the ’70s Mellow Gold and classic R&B that he paid heartfelt tribute to on 2003’s 1972. 2006’s Subtitulo, his first album recorded in Spain, offered subtle hints of the native music of his adopted home. Of course, none of that would matter were it not reflected in his music.
You get the sense that Rouse has indeed “been to Prague”. Not to begrudge a guy his happiness, but it’s all a bit cute. Suay co-wrote three of the nine tracks on Country Mouse, City House. Earlier in 2007, they released an EP together called She’s Spanish, I’m American. They collaborate on the artwork for his albums. He started his own label, through which he now releases all his material. He’s said in the past that he lives in Spain because, hey, he likes it there. It’s not like Rouse has sworn off America. Sometime around 2005’s Nashville, Rouse got divorced, kicked an alcohol problem, and moved to Spain. A native Nebraskan, he made a name for himself in Nashville as a sensitive, melodically gifted singer-songwriter, releasing a handful of exceptional albums that got him lots of critical acclaim and a cult following, but not even half the commercial success he deserved. Granted, Rouse’s story is far more complex than a college grad’s semester abroad. The line is so brilliant and hilarious because it captures the smugness and naivety with which American young adult artist types have for decades thrown off their native culture in exchange for a hipper, more thoughtful European model.Īnd when I think about Josh Rouse these days, especially his new album Country Mouse, City House, I can’t help but think of that line. Well, I haven’t “been to Prague” been to Prague, but I know that thing, that, “Stop shaving your armpits, read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, date a sculptor, now I know how bad American coffee is” thing… When he tells her that Prague is overrated, she points out he’s never been there. One of the best lines in Noah Baumbach’s 1995 cult classic indie film Kicking and Screaming comes when hopeless romantic college grad Grover’s girlfriend tells him she’s leaving him to move to Prague.