With his just-released self-titled album, Kid Rock went down a slightly different path, he said yesterday.

His earlier albums -- Cocky and Devil Without A Cause -- were rock-rap, and this one is all over the map.

"I've been proving myself in a lot of different genres and I really enjoy the music, whether it's hip-hop, rock, blues or country music," Rock said during a brief promotional stop here yesterday. "So with this album there was more of a sense of freedom to make music. That's why I didn't give a title to it. I just let the music stand out."

The 32-year-old Rock, born Robert James Ritchie, recorded nearly 40 tracks for what he called the "creatively confused" record. The album, featuring a cover of Bad Company's Feel Like Makin' Love and a Bob Seger tune, sounds more blues and country-based and has garnered strong reviews. He feels Rock N' Roll Pain Train or Black Bob best define the album's sound.

"I don't hear too many records that sound like that, usually," he said. "Sometimes you put on a record and it's great -- like a Hank Williams record, it's got that sound. It's consistent. We just played it as a band and it sounds like a band playing music! What a crazy idea!"

Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, Rock has often had the "American Bad Ass" phrase linked to his name, and even inked on his back. Although it certainly hasn't hurt his success, he seems puzzled that it still attracts attention.

"If you check my record, there's nothing really that's that bad," he said. "I've never been to jail. A lot of it is just being proud of who you are. They tell you that as a kid to love yourself before you can love anybody. I love the s--- out of myself! Some people have a problem with that and see me as a cocky son of a bitch."

Cocky or not, one of the recent surprises of Rock's career was Picture, an old-school country duet he performed with Sheryl Crow on the earlier album, Cocky. It's a musical pairing Rock sees happening again next year.

"Me and Sheryl shook hands," he said. "She was actually on the single Feel Like Makin' Love and we ended up taking her off because we just did Picture. We said, 'Enough of these politics. Let's cut a record next year, just me and you. We'll make some country songs and some rock songs.' "

Crow makes an appearance (on Run Off To LA), as do Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hank Williams Jr. Rock and Williams also recently joined forces for Crossroads, a CMT-TV series pairing different musicians and styles. Rock said that he relates more to the '70s era country outlaws like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson than today's crop of rock stars.

"I enjoy being around them more," he said. "Whether it's Hank or writing songs with David Allan Coe, it's the experience that's invaluable. A lot of younger kids, my contemporaries, it's hard to sit around and jam with them because they don't know 12-bar blues. Some people say it's the simplest stuff to play, but it's very hard to play and play right."

The Detroit native will spend most of 2004 on the road, beginning with a North American tour in January. He said he will probably make an old-school hip-hop record for his next record, but sees a country album down the road.

"I do have a country album in me," he said. "A lot of the guys in the honky-tonk circuit that have been touring but aren't signed have said some real nice things to me. They say, 'We keep doing this stuff because we think you're our ticket in.' "