Matthew Shafer (born June 6, 1974), also known by his stage name Uncle Kracker, is an American singer and musician.

He was previously a turntablist for Kid Rock's backing group Twisted Brown Trucker; since 1999, he has recorded as a solo artist.

[3] With his brother Mike Shafer, he visited a nightclub in Clawson, Michigan, where a turntables competition was occurring.

[4] In 1994, Kid Rock asked Shafer to play turntables for his band called Twisted Brown Trucker.

He only performed at live shows at the time, until he began recording for Rock's album, Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp; Shafer was a featured vocalist on some of the tracks.

The album was produced by Kid Rock, with mixing additional production by Michael Bradford.

The first single taken off the album was "Follow Me", which was co-written with Bradford, and peaked at Number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2001.

Soon after this period, Kracker became good friends with country music star Kenny Chesney and the two began a successful touring partnership together, brought on by the success of Kenny's hit single "When the Sun Goes Down", featuring Uncle Kracker both on the single, and prominently in the video.

An early promo version of the album contained the tracks "Happy Hour", "Vegas Baby", "I'm Not Leaving", "The One That Got Away", and "That's What's Happenin".

A music video for the track "My Girlfriend" was released in November 2009, though there has been no official word whether it will be serviced as the album's second single.

The album also features country singer Jesse Lee (also on Atlantic Records) in a duet they wrote called "Me Again."

A six-song EP, Happy Hour: The South River Road Sessions, was released on June 22, 2010.

On November 16, 2012, Uncle Kracker released his fifth studio album, Midnight Special, produced by Keith Stegall.

On August 10, 2018, Kracker released his new single entitled "Floatin'", along with an accompanying music video.

[14] "Beach Chair," Uncle's latest single with accompanying video directed by The Manning Brothers, was released on May 31, 2024.