Hopping over to
Broken Bow Records
after a one-album spell at
Warner
,
Kid Rock
doubles down on the contention that he's now a country artist -- a notion that was first made explicit on 2015's
First Kiss
but stretches back to at least 2010's
Born Free
, when the former
Bob Ritchie
attempted to make a
Bob Seger
album with
Rick Rubin
.
Sweet Southern Sugar
still has some hardscrabble Detroit in its soul but, like its title suggests, its heart is in Dixie, which is where
Kid
imagines his audience in 2017 also lies. Certainly,
is loaded with red state signifiers, but it's not a political album per se, as
is simply celebrating all the things that make libs cry. At times, this makes his lyrics play like a profane game of Mad Libs -- particularly on the clumsy "Bawitadaba" re-write "Greatest Show on Earth" and "Grandpa's Jam," whose title seems like an excuse for the song's corny rhymes -- but the words aren't nearly as important as the throwback sound of
. Steeped in the seedy '70s,
deliberately evokes the greasy blues of
ZZ Top
but drifts toward such hammy rockers as
Black Oak Arkansas
, occasionally winding up in
Ram Jam
territory. As retro as this album feels,
Rock
still finds space for plenty of old-school raps and a reinvention of
the Four Tops
' "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" as a slow jam -- sounds that may nominally be fresher than
's old-fashioned hard rock, but which are still rooted firmly in the past. Living in the past is the key not just to
but
's reinvention as a country singer. The music hasn't changed much, nor has his swagger, but the times have, leaving
sounding older and squarer than his years. [
was also released in a clean version with explicit content removed.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine