This Love Affair: Josh Rouse
I had heard the track 100m Backstroke on MTV2. Do you remember what MTV2 was like when it first came out? It was basically like the digital music channels on cable are today. Music playing over stills and information about the artist. At least that’s how I remember it. It’s absolutely possible that I’m wrong but this is my story and I get to tell it how I remember it.
Sitting at my cheap ass computer desk from Target that was in the living room of our Woodbourne Avenue apartment I’d have MTV2 playing in the background. The MTV2 artist and track selection was sort of a precursor to KCRW’s Sounds Eclectic. They played artists I’d never heard before but having heard them once on MTV2 of course gave my self-given “serious music fan” title ever more credibility. Most tracks and artists just glossed over me. But one evening 100m Backstroke played and I stopped. Something in that song just touched me. The only way I can describe it is that it felt like a delicious scent smells. You walk in from a cold evening and the warmth of the house hits you and you are comforted but then the smell of something wonderful reaches you and a little hit of dopamine or whatever brain chemical it is gives you just a tiny little moment of euphoria.
That’s what 100m Backstroke was like.
A few weeks later we were spending the weekend in Nashville. When I was in college Nashville had two major attractions for me: The Connection, a massive gay club that all the baby dykes and pretty boys flocked to from our college town and Tower Records.
I spent Sunday afternoon going aisle by aisle by aisle of Tower Records. This was when CDs cost $17.99 and B and I were very poor college students. I knew I couldn’t buy more than one or two CDs and I already had way more than that in my hands when I stopped at the local artists endcap. Now in Nashville elevnty-two million country artists could be considered local artists. But this endcap was populated by artists who didn’t make the rounds on music row. Josh Rouse was one of those artists.
When I left Tower that day I had two CDs. Home by Josh Rouse and I’m pretty sure a Green Day CD that I listened to like 4 times before promptly forgetting about. I loved Home so intensely that I’ve purchased every single Josh Rouse record released since and got up to speed with the ones that came before.
Our relationship has been a solid one. With the exception of one album I’ve loved, not just liked, but loved every Josh Rouse record. And there are Josh Rouse songs that turn up year after year on my “Most Frequently Played” iTunes playlist.
If I were to make a Josh Rouse mixtape for you I’d warn you that it will be filled with the kind of sad bastard music I’m kind of infamous for loving. I’d warn you that there will be a few songs to break your heart and a couple that make you happy to be alive.
B isn’t really a fan of Josh Rouse, sometimes I’ll be listening to him and she’ll be all “What is this song even about?” and more often than not I’ll say “I don’t know and I don’t care.” And that’s the truth. I don’t care what it’s really about, I just care about the way it makes me feel. That’s what Josh Rouse does for me, he makes me feel.
Essential Josh Rouse Tracks
Winter in the Hamptons
Sad Eyes
Flair
The White Trash Period of My Life
100m Backstroke
Marvin Gaye
Quiet Town
Laughter
Under Cold Blue Stars
The Man Who
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