Kid Rock Curbs His Drinking … a Bit

Kid Rock kicked off his summer tour with his good friend Sheryl Crow last week, but the 40-year-old plans to do a lot less partying out on the road this time around, thanks to his new resolve to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

"Whatever your thing is -- if it's pills, cocaine, smoking weed -- when you slow that down, which I've done a lot of, you've got to relearn how to drink," he tells Men's Journal (quote via Just Jared). "That's the f---ing hardest part. You used to be able to go all night. Finding that balance has been interesting. I still black out here and there, but nothing too serious."

The Detroit native is particularly well behaved these days when in his hometown. "I really care about what people think of me in [Detroit], because my son is here, my family is here, my roots are here," notes the 'Rock N Roll Jesus' singer. "I don't give a s--- anywhere else, but [there] I'm very conscious of it."

But don't worry, Kid Rock fans, the multi-platinum-selling artist isn't retiring his party boy image entirely. His drinking and drug use may be curbed a tad, but his softer side isn't coming out any time soon ... at least not to the movie theater. "The Hilary Swank movie where you walk out of there with tears and feel terrible: I can't handle it," he says. "I want to see somebody fall off a ladder, the boy and girl go home to a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and feel great about myself. I don't want any drama in my life -- not even in a f---in' movie. Even if it's fiction, I don't want it. I want to be happy and have fun."

While his latest CD, 'Born Free,' includes collaborations with a few of country music's biggest stars, including Martina McBride and Zac Brown, the two-time CMT Music Awards host plans on staying far away from the genre.

"I enjoy music too much to narrow it down and say I'm just going to do a country album," Kid tells The Boot. "Plus, the artists have to do so much stuff in country, and I'm a lazy butt. I don't want to have to sign autographs and go talk to radio about your single. You can't play your show and get off the stage at 11 and then go have a good time and then get up and go to radio to ask them to play your songs the next morning. I don't knock it, but I'm not sure I want to do that!"

Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow will play in Pennsylvania tomorrow night (July 6), followed by shows in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Keep track of their schedule here.