Personable and unassuming, dressed casually and laid back, Josh Rouse is a genuinely nice guy, a boy next door type that seems to be smoothly sailing along in the whirlwind of activity surrounding the release of his latest work. Titled Home, the disc is his third release, and the first single, “Directions,” is currently garnering significant airplay.

Who are your influences?

I grew up with soft rock radio, so I like all that stuff, but, I mean, it’s just so wide... I like anything from Fleetwood Mac to just melodic rock to U2 to R.E.M. to Marvin Gaye to... all kinds. There’s not just one band for me.

You mention Marvin Gaye...

It's a song that I wrote. I could beat you to the question...

Go ahead, that’s OK.

It was a song for which I had already finished the lyrics - and there’s a line that says “who really cares.” I noticed when I was listening to Gaye’s “What’s Going On” that there’s a whole rant there. He’s saying “who really cares, who really cares...” and I thought that was kind of neat. And I didn’t have a title for my song, so I simply stared at the lyrics. In a way, they outlined his, in that my song is a series of ups and downs, and his life was a series of ups and downs. So, he was a big star, and I was just thinking, “I’ll title it “Marvin Gaye.’” A song about him. Plus, I’m a huge Marvin Gaye fan, so even if the song had nothing to do with him, I probably would have named it that anyway.

Joni Mitchell performed a great version of Gaye’s “Trouble Man” recently.

Didn’t she just put out a new record?

Yes she did. It’s an orchestral piece, chronicling a relationship from meeting someone to, well, realizing that maybe it wasn’t so good after all.

My next record is going to be like that. That’s my concept.

Speaking of orchestral stuff, the cello on your disc is beautiful. It’s such a nice unique sound, defying the norm. Was it the idea of your producer, David Henry, since he’s the cello player?

Well, when I do records, he engineers them and also plays the cello. So when I’ve got a melody and don’t want to use a guitar, I’ll say, “...go get your cello.” His identical twin brother plays the violin.

Along those lines, the trumpet in your live show is a nice touch as well. Are you familiar with the band Cake?

Yeah, and I know they have a trumpet too. Their music is OK, though it’s a little too frat boy for me. I’m not a big hip-hop fan in general. I don’t know, I just never really got into it. I think it’s cool, but it’s just not my cup of tea. And you know hip-hop has pretty much invaded. I just wish maybe there was another culture that would invade too... maybe something, I don’t know...

Maybe something classier?

Almost. Yeah! It’s like, you’ve got all these kids walking around with these hats on, listening to hip-hop, talking as if they've never been to school.

It’s somewhat disturbing, I suppose.

They've all got these terrible “I’m going to kick everybody’s ass” attitudes. I think it’s a bad idea. But Cake’s a band, and they probably didn't have that in mind. I do like it though, because it’s artistic. I guess the only real problem I have with that band is that every five seconds, the lead singer says “oh yeah, all right.”

Oh yeah, all right. So, do you like New York? Have you been here before?

Yeah, I think it’s great. I could stand it for about six months or a year. I don’t know if I could live here though, since I come from a town of about 500 people in Nebraska, where I lived until I was thirteen. Things are very simple and slow there, but I like being in New York, visiting and all that.

Did you always write and play music?

I played trombone in the school band and was really, really good at it. I didn’t think it was cool, but my professors really encouraged me. They wanted me to play in the high school jazz band and tour around. So, I was this little twelve-year-old kid with all these eighteen-year-old seniors, and that was when people started saying, “...wow, you’re really musically talented.” I didn’t really think anything of it. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. I started getting more into it during high school, when I learned how to play the guitar.

Did you start writing then?

Yeah, because I couldn’t figure out how to play anybody else’s songs!

Your music is considered “intelligent adult rock and roll,” but I don’t know where the market is for that kind of music nowadays. Or if there even is one.

For me, it’s building. If it keeps building, then I’m cool with that. It’s a process. Let’s see what happens with the third or fourth record. I mean, it’s better not to have a smash right away: that’s like building a house with no basement. If you do that, there’s no core fan base.

Are you going to continue working with the same production team?

Actually, my next disc is being produced by Roger Moutenot. He did Yo Lo Tengo’s last record and the most recent Freedy Johnston one as well. He also did Paula Cole’s big record, the cowboy one. He wanted to work on “Home,” but he was busy working with Meshell Ndegeocello.

Well, I am glad to see that there seems to be an entire segment of the generation of teens, twenties, and early thirties that understand the benefit of beautiful music.

Yeah, something soulful, although there’s all these kids into Korn or date-rape metal, or whatever you want to call it. I mean, I’m not a conservative person, but I think about the kids that kind of music appeals to, especially in this day and age, and realize they’ve had all this freedom. And now they’ll go out and do whatever they want. That music just hits them, and they don't know any different.

You’re right. On the flip side of that, your music, especially your encores last night, were quiet, solemn, solo pieces. Do you often do that?

Yeah, quite a bit. It’s intimate, and I haven’t played those two songs in a while.

Clearly, your lyrics are intensely personal. Does revealing yourself scare you?

No, that’s all the good stuff anyway.

I don’t know what direction you’re headed in, but Josh Rouse seems to be going straight up the musical ladder. Take note of this name, music fans, you’ll be hearing more of it.