Josh Rouse... the Americana singer-songwriter on the move to Spain, via Pocklington Arts

Josh, you have always moved around, living in Nebraska, Georgia, Kentucky, Clarksville in Tennessee, Arizona, Nashville. Now you're leaving the United States. Why?

"I was ready to get out of the States. I just had to get out of there before George Bush got re-elected, so I moved to Spain in September, and I'm now living in Altea, a town about one and a half hours south of Valencia."

Were you sad to leave Nashville?

"I've got a new album out on February 14 next year, which I recorded in Nashville, and Nashville will be the name of the record, and I guess that's the underlying theme, though it's not a concept album. It's going to be a homage to Nashville, because I've left there and people can see a different side to Nashville through this record."

Nashville still has a cheesy country image, doesn't it?

"People think of it as just being the capitol of country but there's much more music going on there, although there was a time in the 1980s when Nashville music was all about really bad, dumb pop songs.

"My record has an interesting mix of music. It's folkier than previous albums; there's some pedal-steel guitar, done in an uptown way, and there are songs in the style of the West Coast jangling guitars of the late Sixties and early Seventies."

Will you be showcasing new material in Pocklington next week?

"Yeah, I'll be breaking in some of the new songs: Winter In The Hamptons, Streetlights, It's The Night Time, My Love Is Gone."

Will you have a band with you?

"This tour is solo. I've flown over from Spain, just me, and I'll have Tim Keegan erstwhile front man of the Departure Lounge as the support act. I'll do a couple of songs with him in his set, and he'll do a couple with me.

"We're taking the train everywhere, so it'll be like an old-fashioned folk tour, just like Paul Simon used to do... and I really hope I have a career as long as his."

What are the chances of that happening?

"I'm into making records for a long time, and it's nice that people understand that and are happy for me to change and progress. Just as people know Neil Young will either rock it out or do something acoustic but he'll always be Neil Young... and with me, sometimes my voice is a blessing, sometimes it's a curse, but at least I'm lucky it's always unique, just like Neil's is."

Josh Rouse, Tim Keegan, Pocklington Arts Centre, Monday, 8pm. Tickets: £12.50 advance, £13.50 door. Box office: 01759 301547.

Updated: 09:08 Friday, November 19, 2004