Kid Rock says he felt 'called' to make a new Christian album

Kid Rock has confirmed his next project will be a Christian album, describing it not as a career pivot but as something he feels "called" to make.

He traces the project back to earlier this year, when he recorded a new version of Cody Johnson's "'Til You Can't" for the Turning Point Super Bowl halftime show in February, adding a new verse about Jesus giving everyone a second chance. "I've had a calling through James 1:17," he said, tying the passage to his own middle name and birthday, "good things basically come from God." Writing that verse, he said, set off a longer streak of songwriting that became the new album.

Asked why now, Kid Rock said he simply wants to make music he'd want to listen to himself. He grew up Catholic and found the services musically underwhelming, later drifting through Baptist and non-denominational churches looking for something closer to what he wanted to hear. "I have to confess this is boring. This music is terrible," he recalled thinking as a kid at Mass.

For the new record, he's blending the genres he actually grew up on, rock and roll, country and hip-hop, and building it around a specific mood rather than a traditional worship record. "This celebration on a Saturday night, everyone celebrating God, drinking beer, just having a great time," is how he described the feeling he's chasing, framing the album as a place people want to be rather than one they feel obligated to attend.

No title or release date for the album has been announced yet, but the pivot already has a chart credit behind it: his version of "'Til You Can't" gave Kid Rock his first number one on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart in February.

The project adds Kid Rock to a run of country and rock artists leaning into faith-based music this year, one of several upcoming records tracked on the release calendar.