Is there anyone better to tell it like it is than one’s kid? In January 2008, when Uncle Kracker began to write the songs that appear on his new album Happy Hour, it was his eight year-old daughter who suggested that he try writing something a little less downbeat than usual. “She said to me, ‘I can't really dance to any of your songs,’” the father of three says with a laugh. “Not that I needed to make a dance record, but it dawned on me that I tend to write a lot of acoustic ballads and mid-tempo type tunes. And I thought, ‘It’s pretty bad when your own kids won't listen to your records. Your own kids!’ At the end of the day, people want to have fun more than they want to cry. I realized that it was time for something a little more upbeat and positive and that’s what I ended up with on Happy Hour.”