Kid Rock shed his backwoods battle-rap style to be a trailer-park troubadour long ago, but his ninth album still finds him rolling a pony keg through the intersection of hip-hop and country. Rock's vivid narratives elevate ho-hum Seger-isms like ''God Save Rock N Roll.'' Rebel Soul lives and dies by his yarn-spinning — when he abandons personal flourishes in favor of toasting to domestic beer and working-class honeys, the record's charm dissipates like so much smoke at the cliché mill. B-
Best Tracks:Chickens in the Pen
God Save Rock N Roll
