lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: hunter's prayer

amy ray from 2013-10-29: indigo girls' amy ray cuts country album, usa today

"that song is about a way of life, what i imagine about the good people i know who hunt and have a reverence for wildlife and the land," says ray, an avowed vegetarian. "if you're going to eat meat, you should know how to hunt - that's my feeling about it.

"i've never been the kind of vegetarian that says no one in the world should eat meat. i do it because it's comfortable for me, and i don't like the idea of meat, and i don't like the idea of animals being used for food for me. but if you're going to do it, that's the way to do it."

amy ray from 2014-01-xx: cat's cradle presents: amy ray, motorco website

"one night this huge buck appeared in the fog - his antlers still hadn't shed their fuzz - and stopped and looked at me in this long moment, in the way animals have of seeming to see right into you," she recalls. "i thought of the native activists i know, and the hunters who know how to treat the land and are much more connected to the chain of life than some of us are. so i wrote 'hunter's prayer,' initially as a folk song, then as a barroom sing-along, and then it went into another place. it's about not only wanting a good dog and a good love, but also wanting to find your bearings in life."