Think "Uncle Kracker," and to many, the early 2000s hits "Follow Me" and his cover of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" immediately come to mind. But the singer/songwriter/rapper also played a major role in the creation of some of the best-known Kid Rock tunes (take a gander at the songwriting credits on Kid Rock's breakthrough album, Devil Without A Cause, and you will find Uncle Kracker's real name, Matthew Shafer, listed on nearly all the tracks).
Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock grew up near each other in Michigan, and eventually became pals via local turntable competitions and their love of hip-hop. The duo have continued to collaborate throughout the years (Shafer's name was spotted amongst members of Lynyrd Skynyrd plus Warren Zevon's on Rock's monster 2008 hit, "All Summer Long"), while Uncle Kracker continues to release new music, with an eye on issuing singles, such as most recently, "Reason To Drink" and "Sweet 16."
Uncle Kracker spoke to Songfacts in the midst of a tour on a bill that also includes such southern-rock icons as Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, and was up for discussing the tour, his latest tunes, and working with Kid Rock.
Greg Prato (Songfacts): What was the lyrical inspiration behind your new single, "Reason To Drink"?Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock grew up near each other in Michigan, and eventually became pals via local turntable competitions and their love of hip-hop. The duo have continued to collaborate throughout the years (Shafer's name was spotted amongst members of Lynyrd Skynyrd plus Warren Zevon's on Rock's monster 2008 hit, "All Summer Long"), while Uncle Kracker continues to release new music, with an eye on issuing singles, such as most recently, "Reason To Drink" and "Sweet 16."
Uncle Kracker spoke to Songfacts in the midst of a tour on a bill that also includes such southern-rock icons as Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, and was up for discussing the tour, his latest tunes, and working with Kid Rock.
Uncle Kracker: "Reason To Drink" came about when the pandemic first started kicking off. I was in Michigan, and my buddy Blair Daly was in Nashville, and things had shut down for everybody at the time. I had put out this song called "No Time To Be Sober" that I did before that, and we were sitting there talking about it - it was more of a FaceTime thing - and he said something about "reason to drink." I said, "Well, I don't usually find myself needing much of a reason to drink, to be honest." And that song spawned off of that.
Then we started talking about how people were starting to Zoom because nobody could go anywhere or be in the same place with anybody, and all the masks and stuff. So I said, "I kind of like not having to leave my house and go write." So, Blair, myself, and Troy Verges did this Zoom thing to see how it would turn out. The whole concept of "Zoom writing" was weird to me. But the point being, we just ended up Zooming one morning and that's what ended up. The title had already been there, and we went in with it. It just started feeling fun.
Uncle Kracker: "Sweet 16" I wrote with a couple of my buddies - Marlon Young came in with that idea. It's about the classic American tale of boy meets girl, falls in love, has kids - just toughing it out. I wanted the song to end up that way. I wanted it to be about toughing things out. Loyalty and love and all that stuff is a big part of that.
Songfacts: Which of your early hits means the most to you?
Uncle Kracker: Songs like "Follow Me" and "Smile" have definitely changed my life dramatically. But there are other songs, like "In A Little While," and [Kenny Chesney's] "When The Sun Goes Down"1 obviously changed my life dramatically in a different way. "In A Little While" hit me in a different spot when I wrote it, and I think that means different to me - I don't know if it means the most. They all mean something good to me, I guess.
Songfacts: Who are your favorite songwriters?
Uncle Kracker: I love Van Morrison, Bob Seger, David Allan Coe, James Taylor. When it comes down to song for song, those guys are some of my absolute favorites. Frankie Miller, I love him.
Songfacts: Your last album was released in 2012 (Midnight Special). Any plans for a new one, or are you focusing solely on singles?
Uncle Kracker: We've been doing the single thing, and the plan was to drop a single every 40 days, and then do a full-length after the New Year breaks. So, there are plans to do that, but I kind of like this popping one out every so often. Twenty years ago I used to beg the record labels to put new music out all the time like that. They wouldn't let you do any of that. These kids don't know how good they have it these days.
Songfacts: Concerning the song "Drift Away," did you have fond memories of that song when you were young?
Uncle Kracker: I don't remember "Drift Away" as a child. "Drift Away" for me was one of those songs where it would come on, and you didn't really know what was happening until the chorus, and then you just kind of hummed along. As I got older, to grab a hold of that song and be able to appreciate it, it wasn't something I remembered from my childhood. In fact, I only cut that song because of the DJ, Scott Shannon. If it wasn't for him, that song would have never gotten cut. He pretty much put the bug in my ear for that.
After "Follow Me," I had to start doing these acoustic radio things in the morning. Well, "Follow Me" was the only song that sounded like "Follow Me" on that entire first album of mine - a lot of rap stuff on there. So I had to do something that was kind of similar to "Follow Me" because they'll have you show up at 6 a.m. and do three songs to promote and do a morning radio show. So it was Scott that suggested I do "Drift Away" with "Follow Me," and I think I did "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" and kind of "acoustic-ed it up" a bit. That's how I ended up doing "Drift Away."
Songfacts: How is the current tour with ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd going?
Uncle Kracker: It's been good. I was nervous leading up to it, but I was worried about nothing I've come to find out. The crowd reaction has been good. By the time I'm done, the seats look good and people are singing along to these songs. I didn't really know what to expect coming in. But the tour's been doing great.
Songfacts: What does the music of ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd mean to you?
Uncle Kracker: It means everything. When you asked about if "Drift Away" put me in a place of childhood, I can name a bunch of ZZ Top and Skynyrd songs that put me in different places as a child - listening to "Tuesday's Gone," "That Smell," the whole Tres Hombres record. It's very cool to be out with these guys right now, just because of childhood memories.
Songfacts: I'd like to get your thoughts on some Kid Rock songs you were part of, starting with "Cowboy."
Uncle Kracker: I hated that song! I begged him not to put that on. "Man, why are we doing this song?" We'd get in the studio, and he'd have an idea, and it was his thing. Anytime you write with him, it's his. But I remember doing "Cowboy" and I don't know why, I thought it was such a novelty thing. It grew on me and it meant more than the novelty by the time it was finished. He had a good way of massaging things to make them cooler than they started out. Another song that changed my life, again. So, I love it now, but I hated it back then.
Songfacts: "Bawitdaba."
Uncle Kracker: I always loved that from day one. I think that was the song that broke him. A great one. I remember he came up with that chorus - we were in the studio - and then it was just about doing verses and arrangements at that point. But he just hit that "Bawitdaba," which was really an old-school rap thing from the Sugarhill Gang. He made it into this hard, headbanging thing. It was so cool to us in the studio.
There weren't very many rules for us at all, because coming up as rappers, we'd been sampling and doing that stuff for years. The aftermath for the lawyers to figure that stuff out was probably a shitshow, but for us, we were just writing and making what felt good to us at the time. Nothing mattered other than feeling good.
Songfacts: "Only God Knows Why."
Uncle Kracker: I know he started "Only God Knows Why" sitting in a jail cell one night, and then we were in the middle of recording that Devil Without A Cause record and he had started that, and then he laid down the scat part, and I finished it in the studio right after. A pretty song. I remember the label didn't want that on the album, either. It turned out it was a good one, though.
Uncle Kracker: That one came at a time when everyone was doing those mashup songs, and I remember the record label was like, "You need to do one of those mashup songs." And to him, he'd been mashing up songs, anyway, his whole life with being a DJ and that type of thing. One morning, he had this track from Mike Clark where he looped "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Werewolves Of London." I happened to be home off tour, and he was home off tour. He was like, "Man, I've got this banger, you've got to come out here. Let's write this thing today." I drove out to his studio and we wrote that in probably about a half hour, I bet.
Songfacts: What is the biggest misconception about Kid Rock?
Uncle Kracker: I think the biggest misconception is people take him a little more literal than they should. That's about the best I can put it. Bob [Kid Rock's real name is Robert James Ritchie] is the type of guy that if you asked him if he believed in God, he'd tell you, "No," just to get your side of the story. He'll lob shit out there just to get a reaction. He's passionate. And I think people think he's a lot dumber than he actually is. I think that's the biggest misconception.
August 14, 2023
For more Uncle Kracker, visit unclekracker.com.
Further reading:
Billy Gibbons interview
Rickey Medlocke interview
"Drift Away" Songfacts
Uncle Kracker Songfacts
Kid Rock Songfacts
photo: Laura Partain
Footnotes:
- 1] "When The Sun Goes Down" is the title track from Chesney's 2004 album. The duet went to #1 on the Country chart, marking Uncle Kracker's first appearance on the tally. (back)
More Songwriter Interviews
