“This is a full-on country record,” says Uncle Kracker unapologetically. “Maybe not the ‘A guy walks into a bar and goes, ‘Where does a man go to get a drink in this town?’ kind of country, but it’s my version. “I’m a suburban kid, but I grew up on a dirt road. I still live on a dirt road, a block from the street I grew up on. I’d kinda say I’m full-on Midwest, but that’s not actually an accurate description either, ‘cause I’ve traveled around so much. I can tell you this, though: those guys who have the jacked up trucks, they laugh at a lot of the same stuff I do – because at the end of the day, a good time is a good time wherever you go.” Midnight Special his Sugar Hill label debut bottles that notion up. No matter where you are, how hard life might be or what you dream, Uncle Kracker believes the most powerful thing you can do is celebrate the now. Whether it’s the dumped-but-loving-the-future “Nobody’s Sad on a Saturday Night,” the gone for the weekend “In Between Disasters” or the Tom Petty-feeling small town truth behind what people reveal “It Is What It Is,” Uncle Kracker’s conversational baritone cuts through the mix to put life in perspective. With Midnight Special, the Mount Clemens, Michigander brings it all home. Love, life, heartbreak, friends, fun, songs and laughing your way through it, it’s all here. -