In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Film Award in the category of Best Original Song for "Do You Really Want To Be In Love?"

[1][2] Born in the rural town of Oshkosh, Nebraska,[2] he moved to various places during his childhood including Utah, California, Wyoming, and Georgia.

[3] He began writing songs aged 18, and following his nomadic childhood, he eventually moved to Clarksville, Tennessee to attend college (although he soon dropped out and moved to Nashville, Tennessee and worked as a parking valet), where he met some local musicians and began recording.

[7] He went on to collaborate with Kurt Wagner on an EP the following year, and toured in support of artists such as Mark Eitzel, Aimee Mann, and Vic Chesnutt.

[3][8][9] Home (2000) and Under Cold Blue Stars (2002) followed before he began a working relationship with producer Brad Jones on 1972, released in 2003.