Kid Rock released Born Free on November 16, 2010, through Top Dog/Atlantic in the United States. His eighth studio album put producer Rick Rubin in charge of a change in working habits: recording away from Rock’s home studio, bringing in a different group of musicians and pushing his singing harder.
Detroit remained central to the songs even as the recording moved to California. In comments reported by Voice of America in January 2011, Rock connected the album to the economic decline and job losses he had watched around his hometown. He wanted those concerns in the music without losing its soul. The title track, written with guitarist Marlon Young, became the lead single and opened the album.
Rock and Rubin had been friends for more than a decade before making the record. In a 2010 CMT interview excerpted by hennemusic, Rock described trusting the producer to direct the sessions. “I just gave him the wheel,” he said. Rubin raised the songs’ keys and asked him to sing higher than he was accustomed to. Rock described the work as an extension of the songwriting and performing skills he had been developing, with more attention going into the songs and his delivery.
The players made that approach practical. Young was the sole member of Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker band to appear on the album, joining a studio group that included Chad Smith on drums and Benmont Tench on keyboards. Most of the record was cut live in Los Angeles over two weeks, with some guests recording their contributions elsewhere. In a December 2010 interview published by the Khaleej Times, Rock contrasted the short California sessions with the exhausting days he typically spent recording at home. He said the musicians sometimes played something different from what he had imagined, and their ideas improved the result.
That willingness to make room for other players carried into “Collide,” which reunited him with Sheryl Crow after their earlier duet “Picture.” Bob Seger played piano, adding another Detroit connection to the record. Their musical relationship already ran both ways: Rock had sung with Seger on “Real Mean Bottle” for Seger’s 2006 album Face the Promise. On Born Free, Seger was the guest playing on Rock’s song.
“Care” widened the combination further, pairing Martina McBride and T.I. Rock explained in the same December interview that he wanted the country singer and rapper together because their performances suited the song. T.I.’s verse kept rap in the album’s mix even as Rock put his own singing at the center.
The more serious approach left Rock with something to reconsider. In an October 2011 interview with Loudwire, he acknowledged the album’s platinum success while describing the difficulty of fitting his music into country, rap and rock radio. He also said he missed some of the humor and fun Rubin had discouraged during the sessions. By that interview, Rock was working on rap-rock material again, looking to restore a part of his songwriting he had set aside for Born Free.
