Uncle Kracker

The Firehouse Saloon presents Uncle Kracker, with special guest Jeff Allen.  Friday, June 13.

An easy-going ability to take life as it comes has given Uncle Kracker a place in Country (with the Top 10 hit “Smile”), pop (“Drift Away,” his Dobie Gray redux that featured Gray on vocals, set a Billboard record for most weeks at #1 on any chart, topping their Adult Contemporary chart for 28 weeks), and rock (“Follow Me,” from the double platinum Double Wide, was a Top 5 hit), and as a D.J./vocalist in rock/rap icon Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker Band. Then there was “When the Sun Goes Down,” the #1 Country hit that sat on top of the charts for 6 weeks with friend and sometimes tour mate Kenny Chesney plus the multi-format smash hit “All Summer Long” which he co-wrote with Kid Rock.

“There’s stuff to take serious,” he continues. “But it doesn’t make sense to give too much of a damn. Take it as it comes. It’s pretty simple. I’m trying to lift people’s spirits… Make’em feel good ’cause everybody needs that.”

With just a guitar and his voice, Jeff Allen plays through a series of songs about love, loneliness and the frustration baked into it all. This product of a small-town farming community where steeples and saloons are ever present, cornfields and country roads endless draws inspiration from his past. One wonders how Jeff would’ve expressed himself if he’d never gotten his first guitar.

These are songs that would make Ryan Adams or Josh Ritter proud. That’s just fine with Jeff. He’s the folk crooner. The acoustic journeyman. Capable of making your feet jump. Capable of breaking your heart. Just depends on what he’s singing and where.