As the Counting Crows’ opening act, Uncle Kracker (Matthew Shafer) is glad to be on the road again to promote his new album “No Stranger to Shame.”
“I just had to get out of the house,” he said. “And I’ve always been a fan of Counting Crows. ‘Long December’ is probably one of the best songs ever written, I think.”
Throughout the years he has toured extensively with Kid Rock, among others, and he said that while in the past touring was stressful for him, this time around it’s a more laid-back gig.
“So much pressure is taken off of me being the opening act,” he said. “I literally walk in and play and walk off.”
While he said he feels his stage show on this tour is pretty stripped down, consisting of a basic setup of musicians, he is still integrating all of his different styles into the performances.
“I do some of the rap stuff, which I wasn’t going to do, just because I didn’t know their crowd really,” he said. “The response is always pretty good. Even for the rap. I didn’t expect it. Still, everybody sings the songs and it’s all good.”
Uncle Kracker said his blending of genres such as country, soul and blues with hip-hop comes from influences such as James Taylor, Hank Williams Sr. and Jr. as well as Patsy Cline and George Jones.
“I grew up on a lot of that Motown stuff too,” he said. “I listen to pretty much everything.”
Lyrically, he drew inspiration for his latest album from the events of his life, which tell of heartbreak and loss as well as happiness, but always have a subtle undercurrent of optimism even in the darker moments.
“I am somewhat optimistic I guess, but at the same time I’m the worst-case-scenario kid,” he said. “I overanalyze things too much. This whole record is a reflection of everything that’s happened to me in the past six years going back to before ‘Devil Without a Cause.’ “
Since the release of that multi-platinum Kid Rock album which he collaborated on, a lot has changed for Uncle Kracker. His first CD, “Double Wide”, went double-platinum, and “No Stranger to Shame” is continuing to sell well, he said.
“It could have been tough to adjust, if there was any time for it,” he said. “We toured for ‘Devil Without a Cause’ for probably three and a half years, and we didn’t ever realize the magnitude of it until we came home for a little while and had time to soak it all in. We were constantly running from it.”
He recalls being surprised by the success even though the atmosphere was changing all around him.
“Things gradually got bigger. We noticed the transportation and accommodations got better – everything got better,” he said. “You play at a little club, and then you’re in a big arena. You see the differences, but you don’t really understand it until you come back down.”
Although the climate of music today is obviously right to support Uncle Kracker’s popularity, he is still dissatisfied with what is going on in general with music.
“The state of popular music right now absolutely sucks,” he said. “I’m not being bitter. I just think a lot of people like myself, and there are others in the same boat, the singer-songwriters, are pigeon-holed.”
He believes it’s partly due to the last several years of dominance by pop music acts such as the boy bands that don’t write their own material, but are entertainers rather than creative musical artists.
“That stuff is starting to fade, like everyone knew it would, but now there are spin-offs of those bands, and there’s a lot of dance stuff right now,” he said. “Music’s at a really weird time right now, but it always seems like it’s at a weird time, so maybe nothing’s really changed.”
Hailing from Detroit, MI, a city from which both Kid Rock and Eminem emerged, Uncle Kracker describes the music scene before he became popular as disjointed.
“Different people had different scenes, but everyone was pretty much out for themselves,” he said. “Once myself, Marshall (Eminem) and Bob (Kid Rock) figured out that it was a business, you got to build your business before you can break off. That’s what Marshall did when he did D12, and Bob and me. Everybody did fend for themselves back then.”
Although he’s come a long way since his days struggling in Detroit, Uncle Kracker takes little credit for the success he has found, giving the nod instead to coincidence and fate.
“Everything I’ve done was on accident. I started writing songs and rap songs a long time ago,” he said. “I linked up with Kid Rock, he and I became best friends, and from there we just kind of picked everything up. I’m still picking things up. The record deal, writing songs with Kid Rock, the success and everything was all an accident.”
Although his future plans are not yet finalized, he does plan on releasing another single and promoting it in January before getting to work on his next album.
“I think we’re going to go ahead and do ‘Drift Away,’ ” he said.
The single features Uncle Kracker playing with Doby Gray, singer of the original version of the song, which he describes as a great experience.
“I felt so ridiculous standing next to that guy singing,” Uncle Kracker said. ‘He’s a great guy, and can sing his ass off still, which is amazing. I’m always star-struck when I meet people like that, who have such a catalogue.”
