Sitting in a recliner in the lounge area of his studio house on his Dixie Ridge farm property near Nashville, Kid Rock — morning cigar in hand — said the focus of his next record wasn’t what he’d expected.
“I wasn’t planning on making something life-changing at 55 years old,” he said.
After more than three dozen years of releasing music, he adds: “I was kind of like, ‘Eh, I’ll make my music, like a lot of guys my age, and play my tours, maybe sneak a new song in. … “Hey, gonna play something new, so if you’re gonna use the bathroom … go ahead now.”
“This was not something I expected to come along.”
“This” is “Halfway 2 Jesus,” Rock’s 13th studio album. Out Saturday, Oct. 17, and unlike 2007’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Jesus,” it’s the Romeo-raised artist’s first full-fledged Christian/gospel record, 17 tracks of testimony and reflection within a blend of Americana, rock, soul, country and church-flavored arrangements. It’s also got a touch of his rap roots, too, with Eminem guesting on “Heal My Faith” (a last-minute switch from the previously announced “7 Sins”) and Lil Wayne, a last-minute addition chiming in on “7 Sins.”
The album is a blend of Rock’s own sentiments — “God Is Good,” “High Road,” the title track (featuring Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox and controversial country singer Jimmie Allen) and the single James 1:17 (“Jesus Is King”) — and a pointed collection of covers, including Tom T. Hall’s “Me and Jesus” and two versions of Larry Norman’s “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus,” famously recorded by Janis Joplin. Rock collaborated with longtime friend Uncle Kracker on “Broken Hearted People,” while Jimmie “Bones” Trombley, whose ALS forced him to retire from Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker band last year, penned “Into the Setting Sun,” a moving elegy to mortality.
The album ends with a stripped-down rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
Rock — whose Jan. 17 birthday is one of many 1.17 parallels in his life — said his turn to God may raise some eyebrows among those who know him as the randy and often foul-mouthed Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp, Devil Without a Cause, American Badass and other monikers he’s adopted over the years. And among those who bristle at his MAGA-friendly conservatism and unapologetic friendships with U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration.
“I know there’ll be a lot of: ‘That guy?! Bulls***! … Kid Rock’s gonna package Jesus and sell it to his dumb MAGA crowd,’” he says, with a smirk. “I’m used to that. I get it all the time. I’m pretty used to taking the shots now. I’ve been very good at giving them back.”
However, he insists, his expression of faith is entirely genuine — and also not as far off character as some might think.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Kid Rock got saved,’ but I feel like I’ve always been pretty right with God,” says Rock, who was raised and still considers himself Catholic although he finds the religion “a little boring,” drawing greater inspiration from nondenominational Christian churches he visits in the Nashville area. “It’s been processed since my early stuff — ‘Only God Knows Why’ and ‘Amen’ and ‘Lonely Road of Faith’ and ‘When You Love Someone,’ touched on in all those songs.
“I had a lot of friends pushing me to make a gospel record, and I always thought: ‘Yeah, it’d be cool. I always loved when Johnny Cash did it, and Elvis (Presley) did it, different rock bands, (sings) ‘Jesus is just alright.’” Rock, meanwhile, scored a No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart this year with a reworked rendition of Cody Johnson’s 2021 country hit “‘Til You Can’t,” which Rock inserted a Jesus reference into, and performed at Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show on Super Bowl Sunday.
“This (album) is about forgiveness and second chances, trying to heal some of the division in our country. It’s just something positive in my life, just having faith,” explains Rock, who was also working on a more straightforward Kid Rock album when he began focusing on “Halfway 2 Jesus” — partly inspired, he says, by the widow of the late Charlie Kirk, Erika, forgiving his killer; by Trombley’s health issues; and Rock’s father’s death in February.
“I’m just putting a positive message out there in the world … showing a little more grace, trying to kill some of the division. I am not without sin, and I can’t say I ever will be. But I’m making a conscious effort to spread this better message, and I’m also Kid motherf***ing Rock. At the end of the day, I’m both of those guys. I’m not fundamentally changed, you know? I’m still Kid Rock; I’m gonna drink a beer, smoke a cigar … .
“I’m just kind of on the journey. I feel halfway to Jesus; I hope to be all the way there, but I’m not sure. I don’t know where it all leads. It’s almost as new as me as it is to everyone else.”
Trombley, meanwhile, insists that his longtime friend is sincere and is not pandering in any way.
“It always has been a theme that’s crept into his songs,” says the keyboardist, who appears in the “James 1:17” video. “He can be the quintessential rock star, but I’ve always seen a side of him that has been extremely caring, extremely generous. He’s got a big heart. I have witnessed his generosity towards people for a long time. It goes unsung many times. I know it’s in his heart, so, hell, why not in (the music)?”
The devil takes his due
Rock makes no bones about the skepticism that has and will continue to surround “Halfway 2 Jesus” since he announced it earlier this month. “Lord knows, I’ve been one of the most polarizing figures in the country,” he said, adding that sometimes it’s by design.
And that has not changed.
Even as word about the album and its message spread, Rock — whose 2022 album “Bad Reputation” charted a strident political course — did an interview with Lara Trump on Fox News in which he took shots at Michigan Democratic Senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” adding, “I don’t want my grandkids to one day have to fight some civil war over religious ideology. This is scary.” A few days later, he introduced Donald Trump at a rally on Oct. 10 in Clarksville, Tennessee, echoing Trump’s contention about winning the 2020 presidential election and voicing opposition to socialism, communism and “Islamic extremists whose goal is to impose Sharia law on this nation. … We are not, and we will never be, one nation under Muhammed.”
Despite that, Rock says he’s “trying to make a conscious effort to be less polarizing.”
“It’s hard,” he continues. “I watched (the speech) back, ’cause everyone really loved it. But I’m like, ‘Man, I’m still angry and stuff, like, real passionate.’ … I still have my beliefs. I’m gonna stand up for them. But I’m trying to give people more grace on their beliefs. The time feels right. I think people have had enough of the polarization, being so divided. And I think I can do my little part to help.
“It’s OK. We can think differently. But we have to talk to one another. Nothing gets solved if we just shut off and are just, like, ‘Oh, f*** those people!’”
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For his part, Rock says: “I’ll talk to anybody. If Dylan Mulvaney wants to sit down and have a conversation” — referencing the transgender influencer whose relationship with Anheuser-Busch caused Rock to protest by shooting beer cans with a machine gun and calling for a boycott — “I’m like: ‘Come for lunch. Come for dinner. No problem.’ I’m always down to have a conversation about anything, with anyone, especially if it’s a constructive conversation. If someone wants to get in a pissing match, I’m really good at that, too. I can go pretty hard in the paint. My tongue is a dagger, which I have to be careful of, and not just musically and publicly.”
As proof of his openness, Rock points to friendships with left-leaning actor Sean Penn and TV host Bill Maher, whom he took to dinner at the White House early on during Trump’s second term. The two will be doing it again this month, ahead of Rock’s return visit to “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Oct. 30 on HBO.
“You can always find common ground somewhere, with everybody,” says Rock, who received a Bob Hope Award for Entertainment from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society this year for his services performing for the American military. “I still love a lot of Bruce Springsteen’s music. No, I don’t like his politics, but I’m not gonna boycott him. We think differently. I think that’s perfectly fine. But the just fly-off-the-handle reactions — which I’ve been guilty of — there needs to be less of that.”
Rock, who recently hosted a fundraiser in Nashville for Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate John James, acknowledges that the right’s, and particularly Trump’s, rhetoric helps to drive the discord. The friendship with the president is genuine, he says. “He’s a great guy. Yes, he likes to win. … Sometimes people like myself or Trump have to pat ourselves on the back because no one else wants to give you credit, and then people are like, ‘Oh, he’s cocky … .”
But Rock — who staged a faux Senatorial campaign back in 2017 that many took seriously — also voices a disdain for politics in general. “They all think they’re celebrities,” he says. “They want to write books and make a lot of money when they’re out of office.” Rock is in favor of campaign reform, particularly financial, and he also broaches the idea of reinstating the draft — not for the military, but to push qualified people into public service.
“It’s like, ‘OK, we’re not gonna run you through the mud. We just want your skills,’” Rock says. “This guy is so smart. He runs this great company. Now we need you to serve your country for four years.”
Brothers in arms
The real meeting of the minds on “Halfway 2 Jesus” is, of course, Eminem’s unexpected appearance of “Heal My Faith.”
The rapper, whose political views are the opposite of Rock’s, has taken some heat for being part of the project, though Rock says that a social media post claiming people were trying to force him off the album was intended as a joke. The two have teamed up before, including on Rock’s breakthrough, diamond-certified 1998 album “Devil Without a Cause” and on Trick-Trick’s 2013 remix of “From tha D.” He made a cameo in the video for Eminem’s “Berzerk” that same year.
The two joining forces again, he says, is a microcosm of the new album’s overall message.
“We’ve been friends for, like, 40 years,” Rock says. “I really didn’t want to drag him into my political world. … We talk about (politics) a little bit, not a ton. There’s a lot of stuff we agree on, and we can have a laugh about what (we don’t). That’s why I kind of asked him to write a verse for me.”
“Heal My Faith” — previously titled “Lord Above” and “Show Me Love” — was, in fact, the first track they collaborated on, about a year ago. “There was this rap thing, and I was kind of stuff,” Rock recalls. “He sends me back … a verse wrapping up our whole history from like, day one — living at the Oakwood Apartments together, how I came to his ‘Slim Shady’ release (show), when he was nobody, and told him to keep going and how much that meant to him back then.
“And he nails the line, ‘He’s my brother, not my political enemy,’ and it just sent these chills. I’m like, ‘Man, this is so important.’”
Things changed, however, after Eminem also heard “7 Sins” and decided he liked it enough to rap on that rather than “Heal My Faith.” “We agreed we didn’t need two songs together … people are going to think we’re dating,” Rock says. Then, shortly after the album was announced, Rock heard from Eminem asking, “When’s the last time you listened to that first song we were working on? … I think we should switch songs.’” After some back-and-forth, “Heal My Faith” was finished, with the final mix arriving on Oct. 11. “It brought me to tears,” Rock says. “I couldn’t believe it.”
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It did, however, set off a scramble to find another rapper for “7 Sins.” Lil Wayne was Rock’s first choice, though he also reached out to Chuck D of Public Enemy when he initially didn’t hear back from Wayne. The finished track was finally completed just three days before “Halfway 2 Jesus” was released. “It’s fire,” Rock said in a text message. “I am so frickin’ stoked, and I feel like the biggest weight I have ever felt (doing an album) has been lifted. I have never experienced GOOD anxiety and stress before.”
He does, however, liken those circumstances to the making of “Devil Without a Cause.” “There was a lot of last-minute (stuff) on that record, too,” Rock remembers. “I didn’t scream ‘My name is Kid!’ until we were mixing the song (‘Bawitaba’), ’til we were in the mix room, ‘I got this crazy idea … .’”
“Halfway 2 Jesus” was recorded at Rock’s Dixie Ridge Studios, where he also has full living quarters and an indoor pickleball court, working with Nashville studio players and members of Twisted Brown Trucker. A neon Book Cadillac Hotel sign hangs on one wall in the control room, while a Stroh’s chandelier hangs over the mixing desk. “It’s recorded like a real record, for the most part,” he says, although he did use programming and the AI Suno program to craft some orchestrations and full choir arrangements.
“I really do view it as another tool … like how I would love to use different samples,” says Rock, who convened an “off the record” meeting of industry executives and musicians at his house to talk about AI issues. “It lets me get what I hear in my head to my audience. … I agree it can be a huge problem down the line. I think it’s to be determined. But until then … you can build a house with a pound of nails and a rock, or you can get a nail gun. So it’s another tool — not making songs but, you know, input.”
But wait, there’s more …
As “Halfway 2 Jesus” arrives, Rock will be turning to other projects, including another faith-based album he describes as “stripped-down, acoustic, with a big-name producer. This vision he has is campfire … just kind of sit around, jamming.” And he also wants to return to the album he was working on when “Halfway 2 Jesus” took hold.
“I’ve got some of those great, crazy-ass Kid Rock songs sitting there, and some crazy rap s*** … which is kind of still tongue-in-cheek, laughing about it, but I know some people will take it serious.”
Rock has a vision for presenting “Halfway 2 Jesus” live, as well — a revival-style concert that he envisions starting with “Procession,” an instrumental he composed for the album, and incorporating the religious songs with appropriate material from the rest of his career.
“I don’t know if it’s in huge churches, huge stadiums, arenas, amphitheaters,” he says. “I don’t know if that’s a residency at the Ryman (Auditorium, in Nashville) on Sundays or Saturday nights or something. We’re probably not gonna do ‘So Hott’ or ‘Motherf***er Like Me,’ but maybe ‘All Summer Long’ or ‘Picture’ sneak in or something.
“I just had that (idea) in my head while I was doing this record — just positive messages, just people being moved, but still a big rock ‘n’ roll show.”
Rock isn’t sure when that will happen, though. He was planning to take 2027 off, partly to deal with a wrist issue that may require surgery and then return in 2028. In the meantime, he’ll continue creating down at Dixie Ridge, a 200-acre spread in Whites Creek, with multiple buildings built on a rolling hillside, including a church, saloon, a pasture with two Texas longhorn cattle and plenty of space for Rock’s car collection — including a three-car garage whose doors are giant replicas of his platinum album awards for some of his albums. Justin Timberlake built a golf club next door, while a stage production company/rehearsal space is just down the road on the other side.
“I never thought in my life I’d be a resident outside of Michigan,” says Rock, who moved full-time to Nashville about a decade ago and established Tennessee residency in 2020. He still maintains an Oakland County rehearsal space and headquarters for his Made In Detroit apparel company (where he built living quarters for when he visits) and is building a new home in Charlevoix. He also has property in Alabama and Jupiter, Florida. “I’m only in Nashville ’cause my son needs to be here,” he said.
Rock’s custom-built main residence, modeled after the White House, sits at the top of the hill with a spectacular view of the Nashville skyline. It’s fronted by a cannon and gold eagles, with an infinity swimming pool just outside a dining area that has a rotating platform made from wood from Hank Williams’ home in Shreveport, Louisiana. The lower level has a heated grotto with a waterfall and whirlpool, as well as a movie theater. The house, like the other Dixie Ridge buildings, is filled with artifacts and photos from throughout Rock’s career and gifts from other artists, including the late Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King’s 1973 Fender Stratocaster used for “Sweet Home Alabama.”
Rock’s son and two grandchildren are, of course, frequent visitors. “Ask me what my favorite thing to do, besides music, is,” he says. “It’s having dinner here (with the family).”
He does make his way back to Michigan “for a (sports) game or something” and even spent some time recently at his old house in Royal Oak, where his older brother now lives. “I miss it every time. … I don’t know if everyone’s gotten that message, or how important it is.”
Rock said he’d consider a residence in the Detroit area, but has no plans for a return.
“The only engagement I really lost there was when I was attacked for the Confederate flag (stage prop), which was a little disheartening,” he says. “I know I’ve done so much good there, with so many organizations I could name for days, and I didn’t really hear anybody speak up (in support) and say, ‘Hey man, this kid’s been really good for Detroit.’ But it’s still, like home.
“Y’know, it doesn’t even come up in the conversation, ‘What’s your favorite place to play?’ We have to take Detroit out of the mix, ’cause that’s the answer, every time. You’ll see me there, I promise.”
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