CMA Fest: Uncle Kracker Calls Himself ‘Really Lucky’ to Have so Many Country Music Fans

Uncle Kracker returned to CMA Fest this year to perform for his many, and eclectic fans, and remembered once again why the event means so much to him.

“I don’t come every year,” Uncle Kracker told PopCulture.com. “It seems like I’ve come for a few years, and then I took a year off, and then I come another year, but, this year it seems fun.”

Uncle Kracker has charted songs in almost every genre, including rock, pop and even Christian, but admits he feels right at home with country music fans.

“I’ve been really lucky with country music,” said the singer. “I’ve been really, really lucky.”

Uncle Kracker got his start as a teenager, partnering up with one of music’s biggest stars.

“I signed my first record deal when I was 15,” Uncle Kracker recalled. “Made a rap record. It didn’t come out. The label folded. I took over DJ-ing for Kid Rock when I was 16. Then from 16 on, I DJ-ed for Kid Rock and we wrote songs together until he broke, which seemed like forever.

“Then, once he broke, we just thought we were just gonna piggyback my solo record off of his success,” he continued. “And it proved to be a little tougher than we thought it was gonna be, ’cause he sold, like, 16 million [albums], and we thought, ‘Well shoot man, if we can get like one percent of that, we’d feel good about it.’”

Instead, it took the Michigan native a few years to find his own success, but in hindsight, he is grateful for the journey.

“I think we were shooting too high. But we did kind of spawn it off of his thing” he added. “People think that they spit me out of Kid Rock’s womb and I landed in Kenny Chesney‘s lap, and here I am.”

Uncle Kracker credits some of his success to luck, but has also worked hard over the years as well.

“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “There’s a lot of luck involved. All the wheels gotta be spinning at the right time. There’s been plenty of tanks.”

One thing the 45-year-old is grateful for is that he has managed to have a successful and lengthy career without being confined to one genre.

“I just like all kinds of stuff,” Uncle Kracker said. “All kinds of music. I think my early years DJing and playing everything … when I get in the studio, it’s not one thing. It’s all things. And whatever sounds good at the time.”

When not enjoying time on his boat, Uncle Kracker is also working a new single at radio, “Sweet Sixteen,” likely from an upcoming new album.

“It’s pretty much just about getting older,” Uncle Kracker said. “I wrote it just like that. You don’t wanna talk about getting older, so you just elaborate on how things are different now then they were, instead of saying like, ‘Well, we’re gettin’ old.’ You just say, ‘Well, we used to do this.’”

Photo Credit: Getty images/ Erika Goldring