One of Nashville's best pop songwriters, Josh Rouse, is making a move with Under Cold Blue Stars. It's a bigger canvas, and there are more colors on the palette. He's cutting up other paintings and incorporating them into this new canvas, as well.

A thin, quiet, talented shadow named Pat Sansone has been here. We had him in Nashville for a little while, he currently resides in NYC. He'll show up on many records (including those of PM favorite Swan Dive) and the NYC gigs of Jenifer Jackson, and many other pop places. He's liable to show up on most any instrument, and he makes everybody sound better. We hope to hear a CD from him in the foreseeable future.

Producer Roger Moutenot has done an enlightened job. The personality of the artist's previous Home is present, yet raised to a new level. (Moutenot's a versatile guy. You may recognize his name as the producer of Jorma Kaukonen's new record of white country guys from the 20s and 30s, which we covered last month.)

The artist himself is a melodious writer with plenty of groove, and an eminently listenable singer. The strong batch of songs on UCBS centers loosely around a couple in the 50s, and he used his own nuclear and extended family for models. When PM caught up with him, Josh was running late in preparations for a European tour, so we did a little interview by email. Rouse is a thoughtful, intelligent pop writer with a very young sound and a preserved naivete that enables him to continually straddle the line between appealing to the young and mature listener alike. He's a single away from cracking it wide open.  continue