A new KR article from the Detroit news

[Diamond]

3/13/02
Just a good ol' country boy
Hometown rapper Kid Rock celebrates his musical idols

By Susan Whitall / The Detroit News


Kid Rock is used to people who can't see past the pimp hat. Sure, he made his name as a rapper slinging the "f" word around and bragging about the women he scores, but he's also a devoted custodial father, a favorite act of the United States Armed Forces, and a faithful promoter of all things Detroit and Michigan.
Add to that: Keen student of and cheerleader for traditional American music. The sound of banjos, lap steel guitar and swamp funk infuse Rock's latest album, Cocky, which quietly slipped into platinum status while you were sleeping.
On the new album, recorded last year at his Oakland County retreat "north of Detroit and south of heaven," Rock -- nee Bob Ritchie -- plays banjo, layers on bluegrass harmonies, samples from Lynyrd Skynyrd and even plays a lap steel guitar once owned by Hank Williams Jr. (and maybe senior).
The 31-year-old Macomb County native will show off much of the new material Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills, part of his nationwide tour supporting the new album, the follow-up to his blockbuster History of Rock collection of 2000.
And while many fans are curious about his romance with ultimate pin-up Pamela Anderson, Rock first wants to talk music.
Supporting real music made by real musicians is just one of his passions, unlikely or not.
"Music has a general overtone right now that is very manufactured -- I know I'm not the first to point this out," he says, a hint of self-mocking in his voice.
Rock was seen onstage at the Grammys flashing a pleased smile two weeks ago when the old-school bluegrass soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou won as album of the year.
"It was great that that album sold so well," he says. "It's very rootsy music, very talent-oriented, made by people who can sing and who do good harmonies -- what I aspire to be some day!"
That the guy who started out as a sampling, scratching rapper in the early '90s can speak about the Irish roots of bluegrass harmonies shouldn't surprise people, Rock thinks.
That he grew up comfortably in Romeo, his father the owner of a car dealership, needn't preclude the fact that he cut his musical teeth "running around the ghetto with turntables" -- with no financial assistance from his parents. And this doting, "fun" dad has custody of his son, Robert Jr., 8.
Rock shrugs off the fact that any of this might be confusing or contradictory. "I haven't done Behind the Music yet and I'm not going to start now," he says. "But there are a lot of things I've done that people wouldn't understand. They wouldn't be able to fathom the way I balance out my life. Sometimes I think it's better to keep it to myself."
He immediately thinks of a song that describes his situation. He ran across it again when looking for a Waylon Jennings song to perform at the late singer's memorial on March 23, at the request of Jennings' widow Jessi Colter. Rock can't make the show, but he'll tape himself singing the song.
"I'm going to do Waylon's song, 'I've Always Been Crazy,' " says Rock. "I relate to those words: 'I've always been crazy, but I've never intentionally hurt anyone.' "
Although he brags happily about combining musical forms on his new album, this rocking, rapping country dude says he almost fell off his chair a few weeks ago when he was flipping through the TV channels at home with his girlfriend -- more on her later -- and he found he had the No. 2 most-requested video on Country Music Television (CMT). It was a clip from the CMT Crossroads show he did with Hank Williams Jr.
Rock laughs when people ask him how he got into country music. "As much time as I spent in Mt. Clemens? And I did grow up in Romeo, on five acres. There are a lot of country players living here; Dwight Yoakam's producer is from Roseville."
Rock is modest about his arc of musicianship, attributing his improvement -- "Musically I went from a C minus or D plus to somewhere in the B area" -- to the musicians who come jam with him at his "Clarkston Chophouse" spread.
"Billy Gibbons has done some stuff out here, the guys in Aerosmith stopped by and we jammed all night at the studio; you just pick up so much, being next to someone with so much talent makes you so much better ... At this point, I've probably got some of the best teachers in the world."
While Cocky, recorded on his vintage analog set-up, has that authentic, whole-grain country feel, he hasn't abandoned his roots, with songs like "You Never Met a (rude word) Quite Like Me," and a rap he shares with Snoop Dogg. "I'll always be a rapper at heart," Rock avers.
Although he's friendly with management stablemate Bob Seger and is forever trying to get together with Ted Nugent ("He says he wants to come out and milk blood from the guitars in the studio"), it's Hank Williams Jr., the country star and son of Hank Sr., whom Rock considers his mentor.
"I don't know if people know how great a player he is," Rock says of Williams Jr. "He learned to pick from Toy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band, he learned how to play piano from Jerry Lee Lewis and banjo from Earl Scruggs. My son's playing the fiddle now, and Hank was playing my son's fiddle the last time he was here."
Two lap steel guitars Williams gave his Michigan friend turned out to have quite a pedigree.
"I took one to Mike Koontz in Ferndale, my guitar guy, and asked him to set them up for me," says Rock. "When I went back to pick them up he said, 'Do you know these are from the '40s? That they're some of the first lap steels that Leo Fender made?' I said it made sense considering where they came from. Man, I'd like to know who played those!"
One of Kid Rock's most important functions is of course as Michigan envoy to the world, and he's worked hard to introduce new generations to the greasy pleasures of local rockers like Grand Funk Railroad. And last year he successfully lured the ultimate working man's fantasy woman -- Pamela Anderson -- to Michigan.
They met thanks to a Detroit icon -- Aretha Franklin, no less -- backstage at the VH1 Divas Live concert, where Rock was set to perform onstage with the Queen of Soul. "I'll never forget April 14, 2001," he says dreamily.
Rock worked out a routine where he would run down the middle aisle while rapping, and jump up onstage with Franklin. The diva's surprise was semi-real; she wasn't at the rehearsal where he worked the move out.
"Later when we were helping her off the stage, she said, 'Honey, you have too much energy for me!' " Rock says with a laugh.
Now Rock and Anderson have settled into a comfortable life with his son and sometimes her two boys at the bucolic northern Oakland County spread.
Rock took his son skiing at Pine Knob on a recent snowy day, and he connects with old friends out on the golf course.
"What I like about it is I can catch up with my friends on the golf course," he says, "Throw a case of beer on the back of the cart, and you're out by yourself, enjoying someone's company."
"She loves Michigan," says Rock of girlfriend Anderson. Indeed, whenever the former Baywatch babe flies to Michigan, she's approached by people on the plane who tell her how happy they are to have her in the state. Add to that, Rock's father is always pressing her to try the Michigan strawberries or the Michigan corn.
"So that's our joke now, that everything's Michigan, and Detroit, everywhere we turn," Rock says with a laugh. "I mean, we were watching American Pie the other day, and the characters are from U-M!"
Rock scoffs at the idea that selling as many albums as he does means an inevitable move to New York or L.A.
"Me and her, we've got the best-of-both-worlds setup," he says. "Great support system here with my family and my son, it's a great place to raise kids ... but when it's cold here, we also have a pretty nice getaway in Malibu."
He chortles happily. "I don't think anyone in Michigan will think it wrong if we got away from the cold weather occasionally."
As for his bad boy persona, Rock isn't apologizing -- on the credits of the Cocky album is a line stating that he doesn't intend to be anyone's role model.
"I don't think anybody should look to anyone else to raise their children," he explains. "The best way to do that is to talk with your kids and spend time with them and decide what's appropriate for them. If I lose a sale, OK; at least you're talking to your kids, that's what's important."
What about Junior? "I know what he's listening to. He knows the swear words and stuff -- he's 8 years old -- but he also knows where it's inappropriate, and if you say it there's going to be consequences."



Kid Rock year by year
1971: Robert James Ritchie born on Jan. 17 in Romeo, Mich.
1990: Debut album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast is released.
1992: Insane Clown Posse releases Carnival of Carnage, which includes the track "Is That You" co-written by and featuring Kid Rock.
1993: The Polyfuze Method is released.
Jan. 1996: Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp released on his own Top Dog Records
Aug. 1998: Devil Without a Cause comes out, the first on Top Dog/Lava/Atlantic. Contained the singles "I Am The Bullgod," "Bawitdaba," "Cowboy," and "Only God Knows Why." Sold 10 million copies.
Feb. 1999: Featured on Eminem's The Slim Shady LP
March 1999: Kicks off "Destroy Your Liver '99" tour with a sold-out State Theatre show.
June 1999: Makes his Tonight Show with Jay Leno debut, performing "Cowboy."
June 1999: Devil Without a Cause debuts at No. 9 with a bullet on the Billboard 200.
July 1999: Steals the show, with his band Twisted Brown Trucker, at Woodstock '99.
Nov. 1999: Takes home the Best New Artist award in three categories: Pop, Hard Rock and Modern Rock, at the Billboard Music Video Awards.
Dec. 1999: Collaborates on the song "New Skin" with Tommy Lee, the ex-husband of his future girlfriend Pamela Anderson, on Lee's Masters of Mayhem album.
Dec. 1999: Brings the 20th century to a close with a sold-out show with Metallica at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Feb. 2000: Roars onstage on a motorcycle at the Grammy awards to perform Grand Funk's "We're An American Band."
March 2000: Featured on two tracks on Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise Time to Discover album.
May 2000: Releases The History of Rock, which has sold triple platinum to date (sales in excess of 3 million).
June 2000: Double Wide is released, the Kid Rock-produced debut by Twisted Brown Trucker's Uncle Kracker.
Nov. 2000: Kid Rock's sidekick Joe C., 26, dies at home in Taylor. He had suffered since childhood from Celiac disease.
Jan. 2001: Wins the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy.
April 2001: The movie Joe Dirt is released with Kid Rock appearing as a redneck romeo.
Nov. 2001: Cocky is released.


Aretha Franklin expected her invited guest Kid Rock to jump onstage at her "VH1 Divas Live" show last April, but maybe not quite as quickly as he did.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 14, 2002 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Diamond ]</font>

[grlnxtdoor]

Good article thanks Diamond.I think Aretha should be a bridesmaid when and if they tie the knot.