Kid Rock strips away the rap metal

Kid Rock definitely talks the talk, but he also backs it up. His last album, "Cocky," which featured "Picture," sold 4 million copies after a slow build. And he's looking for more of the same from the new, self-titled "Kid Rock," which comes out Tuesday. The album furthers his transformation from rap-metal madman to Southern rock madman, but still with some hip-hop touches thrown in.

In explaining his rock roots, he says, "I used to sing to Beatles and Fleetwood Mac and Rolling Stones and Carl Perkins and Elvis stuff, and then when I got into hip-hop, it just blew my mind and took me to another spot. But all the time I kept playing my guitar and piano. And lately, I've been blowing harmonica and playing the turntables at the same time. That's my new thing. They call me DJ Bob Dylan."

Rock says he rode the rap-metal wave partly as a fad. "It was a fad," he says. "I could see it coming like a freight train. And it got watered down." He adds that he tried to pitch his record label a while ago on doing more blues-based rock, but had to win them over by gaining rap-metal success first.

"A lot of people don't know that the first few songs I turned in for `Devil Without a Cause' were blues-based rock 'n' roll songs," he says of his breakthrough album in 1998. "And the record company had a heart attack. `What are you doing?' they said. `No, no, no.' So to get where I had to go, I had to play along for a minute. And that [rap-metal] I could do in my sleep. So I said, `I'll do it and do it better than anybody else and I'll get established and then go where I want to go.' "

His growth is evident on the new disc. His singing is better on new tunes such as the Stones-like "Rock 'n' Roll," the Canned Heat-like boogie of "Son of Detroit" (on which he sings, "I'm a long-haired redneck rock 'n' roll son of Detroit") and the boastful "Black Bob," on which he tells his skeptics to take a hike.

Rock, who plans to start touring again in late January (possibly on a double bill with Lynyrd Skynyrd), imports a few big names on the new CD. ZZ Top singer Billy Gibbons joins him for "Hillbilly Stomp," Crow is back for "Run Off to LA," (a relationship kiss-off song that was done at the same time as the "Picture" session), and Hank Williams Jr. joins Rock on another song. And Rock ends up co-writing with country outlaw David Allan Coe and country star Kenny Chesney (on the song "Cold and Empty," a somewhat ponderous ballad). There also are several surprises such as a cover of an unreleased Bob Seger song ("Hard Night for Sarah") and a cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love," which is the new single.

Tull man cometh: Jethro Tull singer/flutist Ian Anderson is a busy man. Apart from touring with Tull, he has a solo band that headlines the Berklee Performance Center tomorrow. Expect an interactive experience with a question-and-answer period and a guest that will probably be a flute player from one of the local music schools. "I've had some great musical guests in the last few weeks," he says. "I've gotten to play country-and-western, bluegrass, and Russian dance music. I look forward to it."

Anderson is a certifiable eccentric whose new solo album, "Rupi's Dance" (Rupi is a Hindu word for beauty, he says), has songs about everything from pigeons and cats to ragamuffin children and photo shops. "I'm an observational painter," he explains. "Most of my songs come from observation, not from `I and me' angst. I enjoy the whimsy from seeing things as if I was a painter, which was something I was going to do before becoming a musician."

Tomorrow's show will probably contain 50 percent Jethro Tull material, he notes, but "in a more acoustic environment." "It's hard to walk away from this [business]," says the veteran Anderson, who started touring in the '60s. The alternatives, he jokes, are "playing aging, crippled tennis or golf and fishing, which come dangerously close to crack cocaine as addictive things not to do."Bits and pieces: Dave Matthews performs on "Saturday Night Live" tomorrow, with Phish's Trey Anastasio joining on guitar. . . . Jay-Z is at the Tsongas Arena on Nov. 23 (presented by JAM'N 94.5). Tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. . . . Wednesday is jammed with shows: G3 (featuring Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Steve Vai) at the Orpheum, Nanci Griffith at Sanders Theatre (to benefit the Campaign for a Landmine Free World), Lacuna Coil at the Middle East, and the Mercy Brothers (a personal fave) at the Lizard Lounge. . . . Tonight: the Upper Crust at the Linwood, Superjoint Ritual at the Worcester Palladium, and Mr. Brownstone (a Guns N' Roses tribute act) at Harpers Ferry, Julien Kasper Band at Mount Blue in Norwell. . . . Tomorrow: Local punk legends Gang Green at the Linwood, and the Fifth Dimension (with founding members Florence LaRue and Lamonte McLemore) at Plymouth Memorial Hall. . . . Sunday: Lyle Lovett at the Orpheum, Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing) at the Paradise.