Nobody mixes feedback, flaming arrows, patriotism and political incorrectness like Ted Nugent.

The Motor City Madman has been doing it for more than four decades in his inimitable and indefatigable style, and he's bringing his Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead tour to town on Friday.

The name of the tour was inspired by a comment from "a military hero" (Nugent's term for American soldiers) in Iraq, and it aligns with The Nuge's belief that "you must destroy the bad and the ugly to maximize the good."

Destroy. Maximize. Trample. Hurdle. Those are basic vocabulary words for the rocker-slash-hunter who, at 61, is showing some signs of age but is not about to slow down.

Having marked his 6,000th concert in 2008, Mr. Nugent acknowledged in an interview by e-mail that he's lost most of the hearing in his left ear from playing guitar in front of walls of speakers all those years, "and I limp pretty bad after double knee surgery due to the meniscus-smashing amplifier leaps for 40 years too. Ouch!" he said.

But he's Trampling the Weak, Hurdling the Dead for two months straight, touring with a trio featuring Greg Smith on bass and Mick Brown on drums, and he celebrated the Fourth of July by releasing "Happy Defiance Day Everyday," a double album loaded with 30 songs -- many labeled with "expletives" warnings.

The album includes such signature tunes as "Cat Scratch Fever," "Dog Eat Dog," "Free for All," "Fred Bear," and "Stranglehold," recordings that Nugent said he grabbed "randomly" from his 45-plus-years of concerts.

The entire album sold for 76 cents on its July 4 release date (the price is now $9.49).

Why sell his music for 21/2 cents a song?

"Why not?" Mr. Nugent replied. "My entire team is hopelessly patriotic and lovable, so we just figured it would be a cool move to let the world know that the entire Nugent family and team celebrate Happy Defiance Day every day, but the 4th of July is the big

Born in Detroit in December 1948, Mr. Nugent started playing guitar at 9. He formed his first rock band in his early teens and charted his first hit, "Journey to the Center of the Mind" with its famous feedback-and-sustain guitar solo, with the Amboy Dukes in 1968.

Mr. Nugent credited Mitch Ryder, the Detroit rock pioneer known for such songs as "Jenny Take a Ride" and "Devil With the Blue Dress," for inspiring generations of Michigan rockers from Bob Seger to Kid Rock.

"I was there when Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels set the bar for soulful, intense, ultra high energy R&B&R&R [rhythm and blues and rock and roll] emulating the black American gods of soul music," Mr. Nugent said.

"I absolutely believe that Mitch and his band of astonishing musicians drove a maniacal competitive spirit in Michigan musicians that grew and grew from 1960 forward to this day. Nobody anywhere ever rocks as hard and passionate as Michigan rockers.

"My Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead tour 2010 is proof that Michigan rockers are ferocious, ferocious. We ain't right."

Despite his wildman image, one thing Mr. Nugent has never tolerated or indulged in is substance abuse -- even in the 1960s when drugs and alcohol were almost synonymous with rock 'n' roll.

"I was raised in a hardcore disciplinary and loving family where anything less than being the best that you can be was not tolerated," he said.

"I give enormous credit to my hunting and outdoor lifestyle for fortifying me to make smart choices in life. Not only was I forbidden to indulge in any substance abuse growing up, but once I witnessed the pathetic, stinky, drooling, puking, dying hippies, I surely needed no more motivation to refuse to indulge in the idiocy that was killing them and ruining so many lives."

He said he advised many celebrity colleagues to stay away from drugs. Some listened, others didn't.

"I was honored to meet and jam with Jimi [Hendrix], Keith Moon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Belushi, Bon Scott, John Entwistle, and so many other amazing people who were like mindless zombies due to their substance abuse. All nice, gifted people, but obviously too stupid to take care of themselves. I begged them all to stop, but sadly the dead ones didn't," Mr. Nugent said.

When Mr. Nugent was a newcomer to rock and roll, the electric guitar was the symbol of the musical genre, elevated by the musical mastery of artists such as Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck.

While the music industry doesn't highlight guitar virtuosity these days, there are still "some astonishing guitarists out here jamming hellfire today," he said. "We all continue to celebrate the uniquely defiant sounds of Les Paul's baby. It is alive and well in hardcore music lovers everywhere."

Mr. Nugent's short list of present-day guitar heroes: Joe Bonamassa, Chris Duarte, John Sykes, Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Pat Travers, "and a little girl from Connecticut named Desiree Bassett. And in his own way, that little guitarist for Green Day [Billie Joe Armstrong]."

Mr. Nugent's guitar and loin cloth have been on display in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but despite The Nuge's relentless touring and career sales of 30 million albums, the Motor City Madman has yet to be inducted into the hall.

"I often feel like an Indian up on the hill overlooking my sacred hunting grounds desecrated by white idiots," he said.

In closing, Mr. Nugent was asked what he would do if, by some "unfathomable" circumstances, he were forced to choose between rock 'n' roll and hunting.

"Unfathomable indeed. I must say that the two are such incredible driving forces in my American Dream quality of life that I would just have to shoot the person attempting to force the choice. They both bring me such joy and indescribable exhilaration that life as I know it would cease to exist."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.