KUPL Santa Jam: Kix Brooks, Uncle Kracker, Parmalee, Colt Ford

[A COUNTRY OF THEIR OWN] When one half of country's most lucrative partnership decides to restart a solo career after 13 years, a certain degree of professionalism is to be expected. While it may surprise at least fair-weather fans to learn Brooks, of Brooks and Dunn fame, goes by the first name Kix (does Dunn go by Jem?), New to This Town's workmanlike, vaguely backwards-leaning collection of Nashville tunes won’t raise many eyebrows. Midnight Special, Uncle Kracker's latest album, arrives with a similarly unchallenging bounty of AM-gold ruminations, but, for the DJ and rapper formerly Kid Rock's partners in crime against music, the smoothest of grooves can be all the more shocking.