Kid Rock performs at the American Music Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/DCP
Kid Rock has made a career of taking the road less traveled. From the scrawny bedroom beatmaker who rose from regional prominence to worldwide fame thanks to sheer will to the rapper who has slowly steered himself back to the classic rock sounds that first inspired his love of music, Rock does it his way, all the way.
If you've followed him along that twisted path, then his sedate performance on Sunday night's (November 21) American Music Awards made perfect sense. With tranquil images of nature behind him, the outrageous American Badass took it down a notch, or twenty, sitting on a stool center-stage flanked by an acoustic guitar player and male backup singer. Crooning "Times Like These," an homage to his beloved Detroit, he sang, "Even though it's bittersweet and brings us to our knees, it makes us who we are in times like these."
Dressed all in black, including his signature lid, Rock recast himself as a modern folk troubadour, trading turntables for sweet, soulful harmonies and flashy, fur-dripping outfits for earnest balladry and a no-frills stage set-up that put images of D-Town front and center.
"A new day dawns as the good Lord shines from above/ 'Cause in the rubble and rust there remains a home I will love," Rock offered in his sugar-and-sandpaper finest. All the while, images of his struggling hometown flashed behind him and he pledged to still be there when things turn around.
The performance was a fitting preview to Rock's just released eight studio album, Born Free, his hardest turn yet into straight-up rock and roll after a career of mixing guitars and beats.
When Rock discussed the song with MTV News back in September, he noted that despite its patriotic spirit, the title track, "Born Free," isn't necessarily just a pro-American anthem. "I think that song already has kinda gotten a little misconstrued that it's just this big, patriotic American song, which it is in its own right, but it first came to mind to write something like this when I was on one of my trips to Afghanistan, Iraq, playing for our soldiers," Rock said. "I started to just think about no matter where somebody was born in this world, how lucky you are just by the grace of God to be born free."
Even if Rock warns everyone not to get the message of the title track twisted, the new album, a hard-rocking, hip-hop-free thing (aside from a cameo by T.I.) features collaborations with Rock's hometown Detroit hero, Bob Seger, old pal Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown, Trace Adkins and Martina McBride and a studio band that includes Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo and Benmont Tench, the keyboardist from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers.
What did you think of Kid Rock's performance? Tell us in the comments!
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