Sweet Southern Sugar is the eleventh studio album by American musician Kid Rock. It was released on November 3, 2017, by Broken Bow Records, Top Dog Records and BMG Rights Management. The album spawned four singles: "Po-Dunk", "Greatest Show on Earth", "Tennessee Mountain Top", and "American Rock 'n Roll", along with their music videos. Its lead single, "Po-Dunk", peaked at number 27 on the Hot Country Songs. "Greatest Show on Earth" peaked at number 16 on the Mainstream Rock chart and it was used as the main theme for WWE pay-per-view Survivor Series (2017). "Tennessee Mountain Top" peaked at number 36 on the Hot Country Songs.
Sweet Southern Sugar is Kid Rock's first album since his self-titled 2003 album not to feature a title track, though the album's name comes from a lyric in "Tennessee Mountain Top". The album also features a cover of the Four Tops song "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", titled "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch". The songs "Back to the Otherside" and "Grandpa's Jam" feature a return to the rapping vocals of Rock's earlier work.
Commercial performance
Sweet Southern Sugar debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 and number four on the US Billboard Top Country Albums with 43,000 album-equivalent units, with almost all of that figure (41,000) coming from pure album sales. It has sold 184,600 copies in the United States as of April 2019.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2017) Peak position New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ) 10 US Billboard 200 8
Year-end charts Chart (2017) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 89 Chart (2018) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 48 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 63
Personnel listed inside the booklet from the album:
Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie Sr. – drum programming, drums, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, background vocals, B3 organ, turntables
Additional personnel
Backing vocalists
Herschel Boone – background vocals Danny Rader – background vocals Joey Hyde – background vocals Shannon Curfman – background vocals Aaron Eshuis – background vocals Stacy Michelle – background vocals Kristen Rogers – background vocals Morgan Hebert – background vocals Stephcynie Curry – background vocals
Drummers
Jerry Roe Stefanie Eulinberg John "Rook" Cappelletty
Others
Paradime – tambourine, turntables Jimmie Bones – piano, background vocals Marlon Young – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar Mike E. Clark – drum programming, producer
Guitarists
Gordy Quist – electric guitar Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar Nathan Young – electric guitar Jason Krause – electric guitar Derek Wells – electric guitar Rob McNelley – electric guitar
Pianists
Tim Lauer – piano, keyboards, mellotron, synth, Rhodes, strings (string machine) Justin Niebank – piano, synth Jim "Moose" Brown – piano, B3 organ Dave Cohen – piano, B3 organ, keyboards, synths
Bassists
Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar Tony Lucido – bass guitar Aaron Julison – bass guitar
References