Josh Rouse’s much anticipated new album The Happiness Waltz is now on pre-order from the Yep Roc Store.

It may have been 15+ years – from roots in rural Nebraska, through time in ‘Music City’ Nashville, TN, and to the current day relocated to a new home in cosmopolitan Spain – but it seems that the song spirits have been constant companions for Josh Rouse. And maybe no more so than on the singer-songwriter’s latest record, The Happiness Waltz, an album that marries both his past, and present – revisiting an earlier era, where his music was heavily influenced by the ‘soft rock’ of the 70’s, and combining it with lyrical tales drawn from the here and now – his modern day-to-day life, one deeply enriched by his children and family.

There is no disputing that The Happiness Waltz again proves that he stands apart from the crowd, producing yet another set of delicate, intelligent, nuanced pop songs, all destined to become fast favorites. An album of twelve radiant new tunes, from the upbeat “This Movie’s Way Too Long” to the jangle-fest that is “Simple Pleasures”, a cohesive whole that should please fans both old and new.

After a number of years influenced by his changing world – new surroundings and a myriad of fresh influences, moving to Spain and starting a family – which were wonderfully reflected in albums such as Subtitulo and El Turitsa, in 2012 Rouse has naturally gravitated to what he does best, creating old-time warm AM radio-friendly songs that will stick in your brain and not let go.  Breezy, summer-y… call it what you will – it’s an elegance that has been favorably compared to the Laurel Canyon/Southern California scene of the early 1970’s. But at the same time, far from being retro, it is anchored in the most important part of the songwriter’s modern life –family.

In an era where singer-songwriters appear to be a dime-a-dozen, he seems to be more than average, yards ahead of just a ‘run-of-the-mill guy-with-a-guitar’. When Rouse sings on “The Happiness Waltz”, “It’s good to have you in my life”, one can only think, when it comes to his music and this album, no truer words have been spoken. Yes indeed, Josh Rouse. Yes indeed.

I can’t wait another moment to see those eyes

Lately all I care about is you and me

And the future that looks so bright

It feels good to have you in my life