Uncle Kracker Recalls Kid Rock Mocking ‘Follow Me’
Uncle Kracker has looked back on the early days of his solo career, saying even close friends in Kid Rock’s circle initially gave him a hard time for leaning into a poppier sound. The singer, born Matthew Shafer, described how his breakout hit “Follow Me” stood out from the harder-edged material he had been making around Kid Rock’s camp, and he said the teasing came from people he was closest to at the time.
Discussing the song’s reception among his friends, Uncle Kracker said that after “Follow Me” arrived, Kid Rock and members of his then-band Twisted Brown Trucker questioned why he put it out, Wide Open Country reported.
During an appearance on Taste of Country Nights, Uncle Kracker recalled that his “immediate circle” mocked the track for sounding “so poppy” compared to the music tied to the Kid Rock project, and he remembered “Follow Me” sitting in the middle of what he described as “all this Kid Rock fun stuff.” Asked why he released it anyway, he said it “just felt good at the time.”
He ultimately left Twisted Brown Trucker to pursue his own path, but he stressed that the shift did not damage his friendship with Kid Rock, with the two continuing to be seen together publicly. The story also arrives amid fresh scrutiny surrounding Kid Rock’s public appearances, including a recent headline-making helicopter ride that Alternative Nation covered when Pete Hegseth took Kid Rock ‘for a ride’.
For Uncle Kracker, the memory underscores how his biggest solo moment began with skepticism from the very people closest to him, before the song’s massive success helped define his career beyond Kid Rock’s world.
