Mt. Clemens, Michigan singer/songwriter, musician, rapper & DJ Uncle Kracker dropping his 6th studio LP under his own label Sturgeon General Records. The former turntablist for WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock’s backing band Twisted Brown Trucker until Paradime took over that spot. His full-length solo debut Double Wide, the sophomore effort No Stranger to Shame, 72 & Sunny and Happy Hour would all come out through Top Dog Records with distribution from Atlantic Records over the course of the 2000s, coming off Midnight Special to write some Coffee & Beer tunes.
“High on My Horse” awkwardly bites the rhythm of “Greatest Show on Earth” off Sweet Southern Sugar for his verses making comparisons to a cowboy even though he isn’t one whereas the title track feels reminiscent of “Me & Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin singing about love preserving. “Reason to Drink” instrumentally goes for a country rock vibe yearning to feel the best he’s been all day after getting drunk while the title track sings about hearts growing colder & beer warming up.
We get more elements of country rock seeping throughout “Just Like That” for a romance anthem that I feel comes off as corny just before the pop country-flavored “Cruising Altitude” ends the 1st half singing about his desires of getting this woman high. “Beach Chair” kicks off the 2nd half of Coffee & Beer singing about having no job & blasting Kid Rock’s music on his way to a party all the way out in Cocomo while “Get Back Home” incorporates a banjo looking to kill time until he’s returned to his residence.
“Lonely Lets You Down” feels heavily influenced by Old Dominion singing about love being nothing but a dirty word while “You Should’ve Loved Me” whines over someone texting him at 2 a.m. regarding her uncertainties. After the country-tinged “Rockabye” sings about getting sleep, “Sweet 16” looks back at his rebellious youth in contrast to becoming 50 only a couple years after Bob did while the closer “Mark on Me” ends Coffee & Beer singing about covering up old tattoos.
Outside of his 15 year affiliation with Kid Rock between the mid-90s & late 2000s, Uncle Kracker’s career has panned out similarly to Bobby’s in the sense of them originally making hip hop music in the earlier stages only to go full country rock once they saw mainstream success. Coffee & Beer however dethrones Midnight Special back when I was a sophomore in high school to become the worst album he’s ever made from the tasteless production recapturing the aesthetics of his contemporaries to his unimpressive vocals.
Score: 1/5
Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!
