Country Singer Craig Morgan to Play NRA Jam

Country recording artist Craig Morgan definitely has a full plate.   He’s due to be the headline performer at the NRA’s Country Jam in Pittsburgh on April 29th as part of the NRA’s National Convention in the Steel City.  

It’s just another spot on what’s becoming a crowded calendar for the Tennessee native, but one he relishes.

"My show, the concerts, regardless of what it is I’m doing people see where I stand," said Morgan about his ardent support of the Second Amendment and the outdoors lifestyle. "It’s fairly simple in my opinion, these are our rights.  We should protect those rights that are given and have been fought for."

Morgan knows a thing or two about protecting rights.   He served nearly 11-years on active duty with the U.S. Army and another six-year hitch in the Army Reserve.   He was an Airborne Ranger with the 82nd and 101st Airborne during his service and was part of the operation in Panama when the U.S. took Manuel Noriega into custody.  Today, he spends a large part of his time on the U.S.O. Circuit and has entertained troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other military bases around the world.

He admits before he was an accomplished singer, and an Army Ranger, he was an angler and a hunter.

"Music is what I do, it’s my occupation and my passion," he said in an interview with MetroNews. "But as much as that’s my passion, I was an outdoorsman long before I was a musician."

The passion for the outdoors led to his most recent venture, "Craig Mogan’s All-Access Outdoors" on the Outdoor Channel. The show is about to debut season two. Last year’s first season took him to hunts in places even he never dreamed he’d ever see.

"I hunted black bear in Alaska.  Down near the Bay of Pillars it was one of the coolest things," he said. "We weren’t hunting over bait, we were hunting in an area where they fed on salmon.  It was just an unbelievable experience."

Season one also showed him hunting red stag in New Zealand. It was a hunt which offered an embarrassing experience for an Army Ranger when he forgot to chamber a shell before the shot.

"I get real excited and sometimes I forget things," he laughed. "It’s a little different with that R-1 than it was with an M-16."

He recovered well, closed the bolt, and dropped a perfect shot on the animal. 

This season, Morgan says the show goes back to Alaska and features tremendous whitetail and turkey hunts all over the country.  He has several guests who join him along the way and he’s endeavored to feature members of his band more in the second season.

"It’s just a lot of fun.  I think it’s a better season if for no other reason we had a phenomenal hunting year, but also I think we learned a lot in the first season," he said.

Unlike other outdoor shows which make arrangements to be at certain locations and offer "where to go" and "how to do it" segments, All-Access Outdoors is more of a celebration of the outdoors lifestyle.  Morgan says it’s literally his life–on video.

"I don’t have to do a whole lot different than what I’ve been doing.  The camera just follows me around."  He laughed. "It’s about how I integrate all of my outdoor activities, be it hunting, fishing, scuba diving, sky diving, dirt bike riding whatever, into my touring schedule."