James Brown is infamous as the hardest working man in show business, but the Godfather of Soul may be getting some competition from Uncle Kracker.

The DJ formerly known as Matt Shafer has been pulling double duty as a solo artist and Kid Rock's DJ since releasing his solo debut, Double Wide, in June 2000. When not manipulating the ones and twos as a member of Kid Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker band during their three-month tour with Aerosmith and Run-DMC -- which concludes November 14 in Mountain View, California (see [article id="1457020"]"Crazy Cryin' Cocky Cowboys: Aerosmith, Kid Rock, Run-DMC Rock Jersey"[/article]) -- Kracker's been promoting his second album, No Stranger to Shame, due September 24, as well as writing for his third record, the new Kid Rock LP and a side project that might put off as many as it turns on.

"It'll be like Mr. Bungle meets Licensed to Ill," Kracker said of his off-the-wall moonlight venture with Kid Rock. "It's gonna be good, it's going to be stuff that neither one of us could possibly do on our own records, and I think kids will like it."

The idea is still coming together so it doesn't yet have a name, although the DJ said they had toyed with the idea of calling it Pocket Pool, if that's any indication of the type of kids Kracker thinks are the project's potential fans.

"It's across the board," Kracker said of the collaboration's musical scope. "It's kind of like some Locust Abortion Technician," he added, as reference to acid-fried left-fielders Butthole Surfers' 1987 album. "It's going to be sweet, it's going to be hard. It's far from [Kracker's] 'Follow Me' and it's far from [Kid Rock's] 'Cowboy'."

Immediately following the tour, however, Kracker will help Kid Rock with his new album, the follow-up to last year's Cocky, which, because of Rock's rapid work ethic, shouldn't take too long.

"This kid's literally got hundreds of songs written," he said, "but I know he won't pull from the songs he already has. But he's not far off. If he [wants to] put 12 songs on an album, he's 12 days away from being finished. Whatever he does, he's pretty quick at it."

And between all of this, Kracker will somehow manage to formulate a country album, line up a tour to support No Stranger to Shame and choose a second single to follow "In a Little While," the video for which features Willa Ford (see [article id="1455945"]"Uncle Kracker Won't Pay Lip Service To Willa Ford In New Video"[/article]).

"Yeah, I work best on the fly," he said. "Just whip them out and get things done."