Josh Rouse Threads Music Of Spain, Brazil And Beyond Into Seamless Whole On 'El Turista' (Feb 16), His Most Ambitious - And Sublime - Album To Date

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - "I know it's kind of funny, this Midwestern guy doing Brazilian songs in Spanish," observes the celebrated singer/songwriter Josh Rouse, but that's precisely what he has achieved on 'El Turista,' the most ambitious - and utterly sublime - album of his career, set for February 16 release on Rouse's own Bedroom Classics label via Nettwerk.

'El Turista' combines originals and covers, sung in English and Spanish, and marinated in the folk musics of Cuba, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela and beyond. The result is a collection that would shuffle seamlessly with 'Getz/Gilberto,' 'Nilsson/Schmilsson' and 'Graceland,' albums as unexpected in their eras as 'El Turista' is in this one.

'El Turista' opens with the enchanting instrumental "Bienvenido," a track Rouse explains "originally sounded like Nick Drake, but turned into Vince-Guaraldi-on-the-Mediterranean." The song's effortless combination of warmth and mystery hints gracefully at what lies ahead.

Elsewhere Rouse mingles original tunes about life in Spain - and away from it - with a Civil War-era traditional American song ("Cotton Eye Joe"), that he heard Nina Simone sing, and two songs popularized by Bola de Nieve, considered "the Louis Armstrong of Cuba."

It's an uncanny collection of songs that shouldn't necessary flow together, but does so exquisitely and seamlessly.

'El Turista' follows Rouse's 2007 album 'Country Mouse, City House' which Paste Magazine called "a lasting pleasure," hailing its "balance of keen insight, wry humor and durable hooks," Likewise, the All Music Guide has said that Rouse is an artist of "First rate songcraft [that] few modern singer/songwriters can approach." The first Josh Rouse anthology, 'The Best of the Rykodisc Years,' was released in 2008.

Josh Rouse will tour the U.S. extensively in support of 'El Turista,' with confirmed dates to be announced soon.

'EL TURISTA' TRACKLIST:
1. Bienvenido
2. Duerme
3. Lemon Tree
4. Sweet Elaine
5. Mesie Julian
6. I Will Live On Islands
7. Valencia
8. Cotton Eye Joe
9. Las Voces
10. Don't Act Tough