House of Pain

Is Kid Rock about to drop the first half of his stage moniker? Some alarmingly mature cuts on his sixth album, addressing the woes of single parenthood ("Single Dad") and painful separations ("Cold and Empty," a cover of Bob Seger's "Hard Night For Sarah"), might suggest so. But that's only part of the story. As Rock reiterates on "Son of Detroit," a butt-kicking revamp of David Allan Coe's "Son of the South," "I like country, soul, rock and roll, and I love me some hip-hop." Yet compared to his previous work, that last flavor takes a back seat to the other three: Hank Williams, Jr. drops by for the swaggering "Cadillac Pussy," Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" gets a gritty nu-metal update, and ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd receive shout outs. Have no fear, fans--even as he reconciles having a child with acting like one, the Kid still lives to rock. --Kurt B. Reighley

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