Well hallelujah, my bowhunting BloodBrothers in California and Florida have already kicked off the backstrap boogie season 2019 and the celebratory SpiritWild campfires are already burning brightly in that not-so-quiet night.
Me, Ixe2x80x99m still out here celebrating the glorious American Dream freedom soundtrack with another few weeks to go on the greatest musical adventure of my life.
Every song, every concert, every night, every guitar lick continues to be a Samurai out-of-body fun fest, with Greg Smith on bass guitar and young Jason Hartless on his MotorCity thunderdrums pounding out the best all American R&B rock-n-roll soulmusic the world has ever witnessed, if I do say so myself.
And that guitar tone! Lord have mercy! Ixe2x80x99m unleashing licks that God has yet to authorize!
We are blessed with the greatest music-loving audiences in the world and the energy level each night is off the Richter scale charts.
I cannot say thank you often enough or loud enough! THANK YOU!
Itxe2x80x99s not just the power of the music that makes my tours so gratifying. The work ethic of my band and crew is a beautiful thing to behold each day and night on a crazy high-velocity demanding schedule unlike any other in the music industry.
We scorch earth on average six firebreathing rockouts a week. None of this wimpy two nights on, two nights off for me and my gonzo team!
Heading out for my summer tour each year causes me to pause and think pretty hard about the intense energy level I have established for more than 60 years, and I often wonder if I can still pull it off as I approach my 71st birthday.
On August 31, 2019, when I assault the stage at Pine Knob north of my beloved birth city of Detroit, I will unleash my 6,756th professional performance!
Lord have mercy!
I dedicate myself to a smart, conscientious, healthy, hunting lifestyle, but still, at 71 there are some inescapable physical considerations I must honestly address in order to rock like an animal for two hours every night, performing the most energetic forehead-vein popping songs in the history of noise.
But alas! Once we hit the stage on that opening night, all my fears are alleviated and disappear with the first volley from my guitar.
Whew! So far so good. Thank You Lord!
The music has a life of its own and is more a source of energy production than it is energy usage.
To further augment the joys of touring, I have been blessed and humbled to meet with and hang out with great Americans every day before and after each concert, and every gathering includes heroes of law enforcement, military, first responders and dedicated hunting families from every city and every state we visit.
When this tour ends on my 6,756th concert, that means that I have shared 6,756 backstage campfires with fellow hunters for more than 60 years.
Add to that the many hundreds of actual hunting campfires with dedicated sporters each season, and my American BloodBrother happy cup runneth over!
I cannot begin to tell you how many rock-n-roll fans over the years have been so impacted by my constant celebration and promotion of hunting, archery and firearms marksmanship fun, that many have made the plunge and begun the thrilling outdoor lifestyle themselves.
When delivered in a sincere, passionate, excitable way, the allure of the hunting life is certainly contagious and inspiring.
Literally every day at these meetings and also every day on my Facebook, I hear from newly baptized sporters who fall head-over-heels in love with the soul-cleansing shooting sports and great outdoors adventure. Shared in a vigorous, passionate way, I am convinced that most people would be intrigued and inspired enough to look into it, try it, and many will be recruited in a heartbeat.
Ixe2x80x99ve witnessed it my entire life!
For 50-plus years I have performed songs with a hunting/outdoor theme to millions and millions of people around the world, and the evidence shows that it has educated and impacted them profoundly.
Killer songs like Living In The Woods, Loaded For Bear, Good Natured Emma, Migration, Great White Buffalo, Tooth Fang & Claw, Dr. Slingshot, Hibernation, I Am A Predator, Spirit of the Buffalo, Primitive Man, Working Hard Playing Hard, Queen of the Forest, Geronimo and Me, I Love My BBQ, EarthTones, Spirit of the Wild, I Just Wanna Go Hunting, Backstrap Fever, Fred Bear and many others have delivered a passionate hunting theme.
The rock-n-roll fans and real musiclovers picked up on the spirit and theme early on, and combined with my nonstop media interviews celebrating this perfect hands-on conservation lifestyle, many were hooked and genuinely interested in finding out what all this excitement was about.
Responding to relentless requests and inquiries about how to get started in the sport, I eventually created our Sunrize Safaris guiding, booking and outfitting operation to recommend the best way to go about it, what to equip oneself with, where to go, and how to prepare to safely and effectively experience a first hunting and shooting adventure.
To share a campfire with these new recruits is one of the most gratifying experiences in life, as they gushingly exalt the unique and thrilling joys of their newfound great outdoors fun.
If you love the hunting lifestyle anywhere close to how much I do, find a way to reach out and recruit new sporters at every opportunity. Even if itxe2x80x99s just inviting a family member, neighbor, buddy at work, church or school to the range or to explore a forest or piece of wild ground, with but a modicum of effort, we could reverse the unacceptable deathwish of attrition in our sport and renew the fires of recruitment in short time.
I am convinced, that more important and more gratifying than our own desirable time afield, is the time we sacrifice to introduce new conservation minded individuals to join us that will determine the future of hunting and wildlife conservation in America.
It is always the right time to do the right thing, and making America great again is always the right thing, and quite honestly, a very simple thing to accomplish.
Join us at HunterNation.org to win a killer hunt with the Nugent family and join us at the ultimate Spirit of the Wild campfire to invest in the future of America. God, family, country, freedom is the battlecry to keep America great as we approach 2020.
Celebrate and promote, never bother defending the hunting lifestyle. Why mess with perfection.
Multi-platinum guitar legend TED NUGENT has a new full-length album THE MUSIC MADE ME DO IT, released on Friday, November 9, on Round Hill Records. The album is available now for order everywhere, and the title track xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d is available to download and stream wherever music is sold.
Ted Nugent xe2x80x93 xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d (Official Music Video)
With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nationxe2x80x99s most outspoken proponent of our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, conducting thousands of pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-American interviews in major media worldwide. Nugent is a New York Times best-selling author whose works include Ted, White & Blue xe2x80x94The Nugent Manifesto; God, Guns & Rock xe2x80x98nxe2x80x99 Roll and Kill It & Grill It.This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com