If these two can get along, I feel like just about anyone can.
Of course, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow go way back, having had massive success with their iconic country duets “Picture,” which they wrote and then released in 2002 as the fourth single from Kid Rock’s 2001 album Cocky.
As it turns out, Crow’s label wouldn’t allow the song to be released as a single at the time (politics), so Kid Rock actually re-recorded it with Allison Moorer, but most radio stations played the Sheryl Crow version anyways. Either way, the song was essentially Kid Rock’s debut in the country music space, and went on to get nominated for a CMA Award in 2003.
They have surprisingly remained friends for the last 25-plus years, and obviously, it’s somewhat surprising considering they’re very much on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Kid Rock is a huge supporter of Conservative movement and President Trump, while Crow is a well-known Democrat and they truly could not be more opposite in terms of their beliefs.
But during a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Crow explained that the two remain friends, and she believes they’re “a great illustration” of two people with very opposite political views who are willing to have “deep and hard conversations.”
She then talked about how, after the horrific Nashville school shooting in 2023, Kid Rock was one of the only country artists who was willing to talk with her about it. In fact, he went over to her house and they had a lengthy discussion about it, and Sheryl says she knows that there are so many other people out there like them, who are friends, or family, and can disagree, talk about why they disagree, and still love and accept each other’s differences:
“It is interesting, talking about Bobby, you know, I’ve known Kid Rock for a lot of years. And he and I are, we’re a great illustration of two people who are on very different sides politically and we’ve had some deep and hard conversations.
Like after the shooting in Nashville, I called him and said, ‘I need to understand what is happening.’ I reached out to a lot of different country artists and got nowhere, and he said, ‘I wanna come over and talk to you about it.’ And we sat and we talked about it.
His grandkids actually go to school where my kids go, or his granddaughter, and people can sit and talk about hard stuff and compromise.”
I think it’s a great example for all of us in a time where politics is just out of hand… even in terms of having those kinds of conversations with people you think you largely agree with everything on.
And while the idea is inspiring and noble, I’m not so sure Kid Rock would agree. During a conversation with Glenn Beck last year, he laughed when Glenn brought up Crow, saying they “don’t talk a lot these days”:
“We don’t talk a lot these days, come to think of it.”
Later on in the conversation, though, they got to talking about uniting people and coming together (Kid Rock took Bill Maher to the White House in March of 2025), and they both stressed the importance of not cutting people in your life off, not cutting them out because of political differences, and maybe even reaching out to some who you have lost contact with.
That’s when Bob referenced Sheryl Crow again, saying that he still loved her like a sister.
“Me and Sheryl just got into it over gun control, and we’ve had some honest conversations about it. I still love her to death, she’s like a sister to me, but she’s not first call on the dinner list. And I’m not on hers either. But we can still be cordial and have some laughs.”
So it sounds like there’s a lot of common ground and respect, even if they aren’t best friends who hang out every day, which is something I think we can all learn from.
The full podcast is available below:
