Recently returned to the States after ten years in Spain, Rouse told some anecdotes of getting used to the cultural shocks he experienced when leaving Europe. The loss of the synthesizers left space for more folky sounds instead. The classic rendition of the piece cleared the melody of the digital tones he experiments with on the online version – which was published about a month ago. Inspired by the poetry of Leonard Cohen, the number is a tribute to the lovers, especially those struggling and surviving the challenging present. Supported only from time to time by background heartbeat tracks, the artist performed acoustic versions of old and new tunes.įor his latest single, Love in the Modern Age, Rouse asked for the help of the crowd, who chanted along on the chorus. Swinging and playing with gusto, the songwriter made the audience smile with the witty lyrics. His fingers slid swiftly on the fretboard as the rhythm increased with Some Days I’m Golden All Night. In the intimate venue of the Courtyard Theatre, the American singer started his stint of ten English cities before continuing on his European tour.Īs the lights went down, Rouse entered onto the stage – the guitar was already in place – and immediately created a pleasant atmosphere in the the room with I’m Your Man. All of it was done with friends in Nashville.With a soulful, delicate delivery and amusing moments in between songs, Josh Rouse delivered a heartwarming performance on a cold Friday night. It’s the first that we’ve written and produced together. The lyrics, but also the instrumentation seems to transport you to this mythical New York City and our real emotional connections to the place. I love the pictures that the song evokes. Bassist Lex Price and drummer Marc Pisapia reinforced the rhythm and John Mark Painter (Fleming and John) created a grand little symphony of mellotron and brass. So it’s kind of like me doing Josh, forgetting about it for a decade and then just singing it like one of mine, with Josh adding the great harmonies. Ironically, the lead melody that I had always imagined Josh singing became my part. We sang our parts that day, tracked guitars. The final touches, the late arriving lyrics, a new bridge section, gave new weight to the whole song. The rest of the song came into focus in an afternoon as the two of us sat around with our guitars at Josh’s. What we realized was that we had done much of the heavy lifting ages ago. When talk of a co-tour came up, the first thought was “Wouldn’t it be great to do some songs together… maybe we could write something…whatever happened to Empire State?” So with a bit of excavation, we unearthed our notes. Here we are now, both living in Nashville.
Josh dotted down a few more lines and it all sort of went into a drawer…for at least ten years. But I had enough to record a quick demo of what we had written, with the intention that we would pick it up in the next week or so. We only got so far that day, about halfway. Through his character’s eyes, the rain soaked images of New York City are seen, as are the gardens of Spain – the unknown.
I felt like this might be a strong contender for Josh to record. So Josh, himself, became the central character. Something about that concept was grabbing and romantic. This was the first time we’d really hung out and Josh was telling me about his upcoming move to Valencia, Spain. Among them was a soft finger-picked rhythmic piece and the words, “Empire State.” He arrived one afternoon with his guitar and a lot of ideas that were sort of percolating. My assumption was that he was gathering material for his next album. He reached out about trying to write together. This opened up the door when Josh came to LA some years later. We had regard for each other’s songwriting. Josh Rouse and I met in Nashville as I recall. The story of Empire State is interesting. Empire State – How a song was saved from oblivion.