Twin Cities singer/guitarist Shannon Curfman is conflicted about being in Kid Rock's band

Shannon Curfman has never talked to the media about her famous boss, not once in 15 years.

After much trepidation, the never-shy Twin Cities singer/guitarist finally got the green light to chat about the fedora-wearing dude she calls "Boss" when working and "Bob" during off hours.

The world knows him as rock 'n' rap star Kid Rock, the party-loving, beer-shooting, provocative, profane and proudly redneck Trump pal who might be as polarizing as any big-time music star of the past three decades.

Curfman is conflicted about Kid Rock, aka Bob Ritchie, the voice behind such megahits as "All Summer Long" and "Bawitdaba." It's obvious from her lunchtime wardrobe on a late February afternoon in south Minneapolis — a Taylor Swift Eras Tour sweatshirt and a gold "American Bad Ass" pendant that Kid Rock gave her years ago. It's obvious during a rambling two-hour-plus conversation.

The bottom line: They disagree on lots of issues (she pretty much votes blue, he's obsessively red) but she says the conversation continues, which is the important thing to her.

"He loves conversing. He loves learning. He will have a conversation with anyone at any time about politics," said Curfman, who performs with Kid Rock on Saturday at Target Center in Minneapolis. "He's never gotten heated with me about that. I've gotten heated with him."

Curfman has never felt "unheard" by her boss. She knows that he genuinely cares about people. He will listen but not necessarily alter his point of view.

"I try to change his mind. He's never really tried to change my mind," Curfman said. "He will explain where he's coming from.

"My issues are more social issues," she said. "We live such different lives that those things don't affect him, but they affect my life and my daughter's life."

Curfman knows other families or longtime friends go through this sort of thing. Like at holiday gatherings when you disagree with your Uncle Frank about presidential candidates. But the roots — and love — run deep.

"I've known Bob since I was a kid, long before any of this political stuff," continued Curfman, 39. "When you know someone that well for such a long time, it's easier to see through politics because you know who they are on the inside. Bob and I may not agree on everything but there's a lot of love there and we always look out for each other."

She discovered that love when she was in a relationship with a woman for eight years. That partner helped Curfman raise her daughter, now 16. Curfman said Ritchie not only loved her family but protected them. He even went on vacation with them.

Said Curfman: "I was telling him it was hard for me to understand: 'Do you love me as a bi or pan[sexual] person or do you just know one? How can you say certain things about that [LBGTQ] community and still tell me you love me?' He goes: 'If you want to get married, I'll marry you guys. I would be honored to do that.'

"That just makes it more confusing for me," Curfman continued. "Have I ever gotten to the bottom of it? Absolutely not."

Curfman's then-partner sometimes got harassed at Kid Rock shows, which bothered her. The boss apparently didn't know.

"There's the disconnect," Curfman said. "People at [his] level don't know what's happening in their audience."

Ah, the disconnect. Curfman thinks Kid Rock, 54, doesn't realize how much he affects people's views. They just believe the messages he's putting out without doing their own research.

For Curfman, there was a seismic change in the Kid Rock world in 2020 when he was dissing COVID-19 protocols and Dr. Anthony Fauci and claiming the presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden.

"There was a shift because he became so polarizing and so outspoken. There was such a difference to me between Bob and Kid Rock," she said. "And then it seemed to become one and the same for a while there. I think a lot of things he would say and do during the pandemic was out of boredom. Bob was shooting up Bud Light cans."

Let's face it: People just don't understand Kid Rock. Or Bob Ritchie. Neither does Curfman. Not totally.

She said he is "so smart," reads constantly, works constantly.

"Monday through Friday, he's in bed by 9 and he's up by 2 or 3 in the morning. He works out. Hikes. He plays pickleball every day. He listens to books. He's so structured," she said.

"He's taking a mid-day nap by the time we get into the studio to record. Someone that is so creative cannot sit still. He records every single day. He writes every single day. He lives like two days in every single day. It's just unreal to me."

To be sure, he likes to party from time to time. Often at his Nashville bar, Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock 'n' Roll Steakhouse.

"He is a showman even when it's just going out," Curfman observed. "He can't have a normal night out."

Years ago, Curfman and her daughter used to stay with Ritchie and his son in the star's Detroit home.

"It was absolutely a normal environment having dinner with Bob and Junior and me and Lucy. The more I say these things out loud, it's the most bipolar conversation. It doesn't sound like we're talking about the same person. I understand the confusion."

Curfman and Ritchie bonded as single parents of a sole child. She entered Kid Rock's world because her band's former guitarist, Marlon Young, was in Kid Rock's band, and he needed a backup singer.

"I told him I'd do Europe and help him find someone that's a real background singer that looks like a background singer and would love to dance like a background singer. And he was very clear he wanted me to stay in the band. He called me into his room and gave me this 'American Bad Ass' necklace and [I thought] 'Oh, I'm a lifer.'"

Curfman digs the music and she's proud of the Kid Rock show. Plus, she never has to worry about gas money or ticket sales like she did with her solo career.

Teen prodigy

Growing up in Fargo, Curfman, who is Anishinaabe (White Earth), sang a country tune at a local talent show at age 7. Three years later, the budding musician began singing in area coffeehouses, inspired by a local teen guitar phenom named Jonny Lang. When she was 12, Curfman joined a blues group that evolved into the Shannon Curfman Band.

To further her career, the young singer/guitarist relocated to Minneapolis with her railroad engineer dad and homemaker-turned-homeschool-teacher mother. In 1999, at age 13, she released her debut record, "Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions," which led to a contract with Arista Records, which reissued the album.

Curfman opened concerts for a slew of big names, including Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, John Mellencamp, Buddy Guy, ZZ Top, Indigo Girls and Bon Jovi. But, following dances with major labels, the big career never happened. After five years going back and forth from Los Angeles and Detroit, Curfman returned to the Twin Cities for the birth of her daughter and released a couple of indie albums.

In addition to performing and recording with Kid Rock, Curfman has a side job booking bands for clubs, cruises and festivals. She also plays a couple dozen shows a year with her own band when her boss is off the road.

Curfman, who lives in Andover, commutes to Detroit for band rehearsals and flies commercial to the gigs, unless she opts to go on one of Kid Rock's two private jets.

For the second consecutive year, Kid Rock is presenting Rock the Country concerts at farms and fairgrounds in 10 smaller places like Cullman, Ala., and Sioux Falls, S.D., with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nickelback, Hank Williams Jr. and others.

"Last year, [the Rock the Country shows] felt a little rally-ish, for sure. This year it will feel much more celebratory," Curfman said. "What's cool about them is he's brought incredible entertainment and spared no expense and brought them into areas that are starved for entertainment."

A master of self-promotion, Kid Rock likes to push people's buttons.

"He loves a good reaction," Curfman said.

Kid Rock does things like appear on Fox News, as he did earlier this month, telling Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to "put a basket on your head and walk back to where you came from" or singing the fiery 2022 tune "We the People" dissing President Joe Biden, CNN and Black Lives Matter.

Curfman still hasn't figured him out.

"Bob, first and foremost, is my friend. And sometimes I wish I could just shake him. But he is a really good boss. It's been 15 years and he's still never yelled at me. I feel like I should get a medal for that. And not a participation one. A real one."

Then, a few days after the interview, during a photo shoot in St. Paul, Curfman begged this reporter: "Now please don't get me fired."

Kid Rock

Opening: Chris Janson.

When: 7:30 p.m. Sat.

Where: Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls.

Tickets: $25 and up, axs.com.