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Billy Ray Cyrus Biography
Back To Tennessee is much more than just another album in one man's remarkable and enduring career. This is an extremely meaningful homecoming in that man's singular journey back to the musical roots that have long sustained him. "This album is everything I am at this second," says Cyrus. "It's everything that I've been through and every step along the way to this point -- Ironically, sometimes looking back, in my case BACK TO TENNESEE, is the best way to move forward."
Sitting in the slightly cluttered but welcoming music room that is his refuge of his Los Angeles home, with his trusty dog Tex by his side, Cyrus explains that the initial spark for Back To Tennessee was struck when Cyrus recorded "Real Gone" with Mark Bright, the Grammy-winning Nashville producer perhaps best known for his work with Rascal Flatts. Right from the start, it was clear that working with Bright brought out the very best in Cyrus. True to the song's title, "Real Gone" (written by Sheryl Crow and John Shanks) captured Cyrus at his most rocking and most real.
The inspired result of that first collaboration is Cyrus' most important and revealing album since Some Gave All, the nine times platinum 1992 classic that introduced Cyrus to the world. It is only now that Billy Ray could make this album. Since then, Cyrus has gone on to sell more than 25 million albums worldwide, and earned nearly thirty chart singles, including 15 Top 40 charts hits; while at the same time establishing himself as a successful and respected actor in film and television. Cyrus' most recent album -- 2007's Home At Last -- entered in the Top 20 on the Billboard 200, hitting #3 on the Top Country Album chart, while "Ready, Set, Don't Go" -- the moving duet with daughter Miley Cyrus -- became a Top 5 country smash.
Yet even after experiencing the circus of celebrity for more than a decade and a half, Cyrus is ultimately a man who prizes nothing more than being authentic and true to where he comes from and who he is. "I'm the first guy to admit I'm not the best singer in the business," says Cyrus. "I don't write the best songs. But for better and worse, I am true to myself and my own instincts -- sometimes to a fault. Whatever else I may be, at least I'm real."
For all that has changed around him, Cyrus remains, "As Country As Country Can Be," to borrow the title of another of Back To Tennessee's many highlights that he wrote with songwriters Casey Beathard and Mick Adkins. "I love country music," Cyrus explains. "I love all styles of music. I just love music period. But when you grow up in Eastern Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, there's a lot of Southern gospel, a lot of blues and a lot of rock & roll, and it's still as country as country can be. Growing up I listened to Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. There's a lot of that influence in my music. But I also grew up with Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers. Those were my influences too."
Cyrus paid his dues along the way. "It was the 12 years of persistence and dedication and being told no, the trials and errors and failures, everything I learned along that journey to making that first album, Some Gave All," Cyrus explains. "That was all built on a foundation of something very real." The success of that debut, including hits like "Could've Been Me," "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" "She's Not Cryin' Anymore," the title track and, of course, "Achy Breaky Heart" was massive and overwhelming. Yet here too Cyrus depended on his roots to keep him grounded.
"You can see my dad's picture sitting there in front of us today," Cyrus says. "My dad passed away a couple of years ago -- he had a gospel quartet, and that's where I got my start as a little boy. There's a misperception that I was an overnight success. When I started Some Gave All, I was living in my car. I'd gotten thrown out of my house and sat writing some of those songs sitting on the curb. "Wher'm I Gonna Live,' "She's Not Crying Anymore" and "Some Gave All" I wrote all in one week. Everything that led up to that moment was very real.
Yet as Cyrus recalls, "Fortunately, I had that man in the picture, my father, tell me ‘Don't worry son, just do what Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton did, branch out.'" Like Carl Perkins said, "Whatever you do, don't change a thing. Stay real and it will come around." When I was down because I felt like Nashville had thrown me out, Waylon Jennings said, "Son, take it as a compliment. You know the definition of "outlaw," don't you? It's someone who's been outlawed. Just be who you are – you're an original."
Taking the advice of those he respected the most, Cyrus pushed forward, continuing to record fine country and inspirational recordings, touring regularly, and increasingly establishing himself as an actor. Remarkably, auditioning for the role as Gene the pool cleaner in David Lynch's acclaimed 2001 art film Mullholland Drive led to a second career that has been wildly successful, with Cyrus becoming a popular TV star. First, as the title character in the syndicated smash drama Doc, then as fictional country star Robbie Ray Stewart alongside his real life daughter Miley in the current smash, Emmy-nominated Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. "Like a lot of things in my life, it's all about amazing opposites," Cyrus explains with a laugh. "My entire career as an actor making family entertainment somehow started with auditioning for David Lynch. As always, I just followed my instincts." Soon, Cyrus can be seen in the action-comedy film The Spy Next Door alongside Jackie Chan. The film, which was produced by The Wedding Singer Producer Robert Simonds, will hit theatres in 2010.
Sensing it was now time to make another musical statement, Cyrus earlier this year carved out time in his busy schedule to go to Tennessee and dedicate himself one hundred percent to making a new album. As he recalls, "I lived in the studio, just like I used to, working with Mark and an amazing group of musicians."
To the public, Cyrus has played many parts, yet on Back To Tennessee, he is only himself as he sings songs from the inspirational ("Somebody Said A Prayer") to the simply entertaining ("Thrillbilly"). It's an album that sums up Cyrus's entire path.
Asked what he's most proud of in his career so far, Cyrus takes his guest today to a prized place in his West Coast home where he keeps a letter than means more to him than any other world possession. That letter came from Hendersonville, Tennessee and written on June 12, 1992. The letter came from the one and only Johnny Cash. As the Man In Black wrote Cyrus: "I was very impressed recently to hear you give God the credit for your success. It's good to be reminded where all goodness comes from. Thirty-six years ago today I was working with Elvis and saw him take the same flak you're taking now. Congratulations on the way you're handling it all. In your case, as in Elvis', the good outweighs the bad. Let ‘em have it. I'm in your corner."
Those words meant the world to Cyrus, then and now. "There was a storm brewing in my life right then, and he sent me that letter. I held to it because if Johnny thinks I'm okay, I figure I'm okay. Bruce Springsteen also stood up for me – which was amazing. Those men and Carl Perkins taught me something I still live by. If I don't fit in, then I don't fit in. I'd rather have friends like that. And I'd rather be myself."
Sitting in the slightly cluttered but welcoming music room that is his refuge of his Los Angeles home, with his trusty dog Tex by his side, Cyrus explains that the initial spark for Back To Tennessee was struck when Cyrus recorded "Real Gone" with Mark Bright, the Grammy-winning Nashville producer perhaps best known for his work with Rascal Flatts. Right from the start, it was clear that working with Bright brought out the very best in Cyrus. True to the song's title, "Real Gone" (written by Sheryl Crow and John Shanks) captured Cyrus at his most rocking and most real.
The inspired result of that first collaboration is Cyrus' most important and revealing album since Some Gave All, the nine times platinum 1992 classic that introduced Cyrus to the world. It is only now that Billy Ray could make this album. Since then, Cyrus has gone on to sell more than 25 million albums worldwide, and earned nearly thirty chart singles, including 15 Top 40 charts hits; while at the same time establishing himself as a successful and respected actor in film and television. Cyrus' most recent album -- 2007's Home At Last -- entered in the Top 20 on the Billboard 200, hitting #3 on the Top Country Album chart, while "Ready, Set, Don't Go" -- the moving duet with daughter Miley Cyrus -- became a Top 5 country smash.
Yet even after experiencing the circus of celebrity for more than a decade and a half, Cyrus is ultimately a man who prizes nothing more than being authentic and true to where he comes from and who he is. "I'm the first guy to admit I'm not the best singer in the business," says Cyrus. "I don't write the best songs. But for better and worse, I am true to myself and my own instincts -- sometimes to a fault. Whatever else I may be, at least I'm real."
For all that has changed around him, Cyrus remains, "As Country As Country Can Be," to borrow the title of another of Back To Tennessee's many highlights that he wrote with songwriters Casey Beathard and Mick Adkins. "I love country music," Cyrus explains. "I love all styles of music. I just love music period. But when you grow up in Eastern Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, there's a lot of Southern gospel, a lot of blues and a lot of rock & roll, and it's still as country as country can be. Growing up I listened to Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. There's a lot of that influence in my music. But I also grew up with Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers. Those were my influences too."
Cyrus paid his dues along the way. "It was the 12 years of persistence and dedication and being told no, the trials and errors and failures, everything I learned along that journey to making that first album, Some Gave All," Cyrus explains. "That was all built on a foundation of something very real." The success of that debut, including hits like "Could've Been Me," "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" "She's Not Cryin' Anymore," the title track and, of course, "Achy Breaky Heart" was massive and overwhelming. Yet here too Cyrus depended on his roots to keep him grounded.
"You can see my dad's picture sitting there in front of us today," Cyrus says. "My dad passed away a couple of years ago -- he had a gospel quartet, and that's where I got my start as a little boy. There's a misperception that I was an overnight success. When I started Some Gave All, I was living in my car. I'd gotten thrown out of my house and sat writing some of those songs sitting on the curb. "Wher'm I Gonna Live,' "She's Not Crying Anymore" and "Some Gave All" I wrote all in one week. Everything that led up to that moment was very real.
Yet as Cyrus recalls, "Fortunately, I had that man in the picture, my father, tell me ‘Don't worry son, just do what Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton did, branch out.'" Like Carl Perkins said, "Whatever you do, don't change a thing. Stay real and it will come around." When I was down because I felt like Nashville had thrown me out, Waylon Jennings said, "Son, take it as a compliment. You know the definition of "outlaw," don't you? It's someone who's been outlawed. Just be who you are – you're an original."
Taking the advice of those he respected the most, Cyrus pushed forward, continuing to record fine country and inspirational recordings, touring regularly, and increasingly establishing himself as an actor. Remarkably, auditioning for the role as Gene the pool cleaner in David Lynch's acclaimed 2001 art film Mullholland Drive led to a second career that has been wildly successful, with Cyrus becoming a popular TV star. First, as the title character in the syndicated smash drama Doc, then as fictional country star Robbie Ray Stewart alongside his real life daughter Miley in the current smash, Emmy-nominated Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. "Like a lot of things in my life, it's all about amazing opposites," Cyrus explains with a laugh. "My entire career as an actor making family entertainment somehow started with auditioning for David Lynch. As always, I just followed my instincts." Soon, Cyrus can be seen in the action-comedy film The Spy Next Door alongside Jackie Chan. The film, which was produced by The Wedding Singer Producer Robert Simonds, will hit theatres in 2010.
Sensing it was now time to make another musical statement, Cyrus earlier this year carved out time in his busy schedule to go to Tennessee and dedicate himself one hundred percent to making a new album. As he recalls, "I lived in the studio, just like I used to, working with Mark and an amazing group of musicians."
To the public, Cyrus has played many parts, yet on Back To Tennessee, he is only himself as he sings songs from the inspirational ("Somebody Said A Prayer") to the simply entertaining ("Thrillbilly"). It's an album that sums up Cyrus's entire path.
Asked what he's most proud of in his career so far, Cyrus takes his guest today to a prized place in his West Coast home where he keeps a letter than means more to him than any other world possession. That letter came from Hendersonville, Tennessee and written on June 12, 1992. The letter came from the one and only Johnny Cash. As the Man In Black wrote Cyrus: "I was very impressed recently to hear you give God the credit for your success. It's good to be reminded where all goodness comes from. Thirty-six years ago today I was working with Elvis and saw him take the same flak you're taking now. Congratulations on the way you're handling it all. In your case, as in Elvis', the good outweighs the bad. Let ‘em have it. I'm in your corner."
Those words meant the world to Cyrus, then and now. "There was a storm brewing in my life right then, and he sent me that letter. I held to it because if Johnny thinks I'm okay, I figure I'm okay. Bruce Springsteen also stood up for me – which was amazing. Those men and Carl Perkins taught me something I still live by. If I don't fit in, then I don't fit in. I'd rather have friends like that. And I'd rather be myself."
Billy Ray Cyrus All Music Guide Biography
Billy Ray Cyrus will forever be known for the catchy, lightweight single "Achy Breaky Heart," which became a line-dancing anthem upon its release in 1992. "Achy Breaky Heart" made Cyrus famous, but it also proved to be his undoing as he failed to replicate its success with future releases. Cyrus' music was never particularly innovative -- it owed as much to the country-rock of the Eagles as it did to the new traditionalism of George Strait and the new country of Clint Black and Garth Brooks -- but his musical worth became irrelevant in the wake of the success of "Achy Breaky Heart" and its accompanying album, Some Gave All. The album became a crossover success on the strength of its chief single, spending 17 weeks on the top of the album charts and shining a spotlight on Cyrus, whose handsome, hunky good looks only furthered his appeal. However, both his good looks and the single were soon forgotten, and just two years after Some Gave All ruled the airwaves, Cyrus virtually disappeared from both the pop and country charts. He spent a decade as part of the long history of one-hit wonders, only to return to chart success in the wake of his daughter Miley's popular TV show, Hannah Montana, in 2007.
Enamored of baseball, Cyrus intended to become another Johnny Bench as he grew up in Flatwoods, KY. While attending Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship, he bought a guitar and began to question his intended career path. Switching gears, he formed a band called Sly Dog with his brother and gave himself a ten-month deadline for finding a place to play. One week prior to that cutoff date, the group secured work as the house band for a club in Ironton, OH, where they remained for two years. When a 1984 fire destroyed the bar -- along with Cyrus' equipment -- the burgeoning musician moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career. Eventually, he decided to return to Kentucky and commuted regularly from there to Nashville in search of a record deal. Grand Ole Opry star Del Reeves convinced Mercury Records to take a look, and division head Harold Shedd signed him in the summer of 1990. When his first album arrived mid-1992, Cyrus -- with his good looks, sculpted body, and the infectious "Achy Breaky Heart" -- became an instant groundbreaking sensation. Spending five weeks at the top of the country charts, "Achy Breaky Heart" helped make its accompanying debut album, Some Gave All, a blockbuster success. By the time it fell off the charts, it had sold over nine million copies and spent 17 weeks on the top of the pop charts.
Despite his attempts, Cyrus wasn't able to replicate the success of Some Gave All. He quickly followed the album with It Won't Be the Last in the summer of 1993. The album initially sold well and entered the pop charts at number three, but it fell far short of expectations by only reaching platinum status. Storm in the Heartland, delivered in the fall of 1994, managed to go gold, but it was largely ignored by country radio and only contributed to the decline of Cyrus' profile. When he returned in 1996 with the harder-edged, introspective Trail of Tears, his audience had virtually disappeared -- the album only spent four weeks on the charts and didn't even go gold. Nevertheless, Cyrus continued to release records, issuing Shot Full of Love in 1998 and Southern Rain in 2000.
In March 2001, Cyrus made his first foray into television by playing a country doctor in the sitcom Doc. He then returned to music world with 2003's Time Flies and the gospel-inspired Other Side. Wanna Be Your Joe arrived in 2006, the same year that Cyrus appeared on the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana, a popular show starring his real-life daughter Miley. While the album failed to spawn a successful single, it nevertheless went gold -- Cyrus' first album in eight years to do so -- and demonstrated the commercial power of his status as Miley's father. Riding on the wave of Hannah Montana's popularity, Cyrus released his tenth studio album, Home at Last, in 2007 on the Disney label. The album debuted at number 20 on the U.S. Billboard charts, both reestablishing Cyrus as a presence in country music and highlighting the popularity (not to mention influence) of his daughter's show. Love Songs, a collection drawn from his peak years with Mercury, was released early in 2008, followed in 2009 by a new studio project, Back to Tennessee, on Hollywood Records. ~ Tom Roland & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Enamored of baseball, Cyrus intended to become another Johnny Bench as he grew up in Flatwoods, KY. While attending Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship, he bought a guitar and began to question his intended career path. Switching gears, he formed a band called Sly Dog with his brother and gave himself a ten-month deadline for finding a place to play. One week prior to that cutoff date, the group secured work as the house band for a club in Ironton, OH, where they remained for two years. When a 1984 fire destroyed the bar -- along with Cyrus' equipment -- the burgeoning musician moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career. Eventually, he decided to return to Kentucky and commuted regularly from there to Nashville in search of a record deal. Grand Ole Opry star Del Reeves convinced Mercury Records to take a look, and division head Harold Shedd signed him in the summer of 1990. When his first album arrived mid-1992, Cyrus -- with his good looks, sculpted body, and the infectious "Achy Breaky Heart" -- became an instant groundbreaking sensation. Spending five weeks at the top of the country charts, "Achy Breaky Heart" helped make its accompanying debut album, Some Gave All, a blockbuster success. By the time it fell off the charts, it had sold over nine million copies and spent 17 weeks on the top of the pop charts.
Despite his attempts, Cyrus wasn't able to replicate the success of Some Gave All. He quickly followed the album with It Won't Be the Last in the summer of 1993. The album initially sold well and entered the pop charts at number three, but it fell far short of expectations by only reaching platinum status. Storm in the Heartland, delivered in the fall of 1994, managed to go gold, but it was largely ignored by country radio and only contributed to the decline of Cyrus' profile. When he returned in 1996 with the harder-edged, introspective Trail of Tears, his audience had virtually disappeared -- the album only spent four weeks on the charts and didn't even go gold. Nevertheless, Cyrus continued to release records, issuing Shot Full of Love in 1998 and Southern Rain in 2000.
In March 2001, Cyrus made his first foray into television by playing a country doctor in the sitcom Doc. He then returned to music world with 2003's Time Flies and the gospel-inspired Other Side. Wanna Be Your Joe arrived in 2006, the same year that Cyrus appeared on the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana, a popular show starring his real-life daughter Miley. While the album failed to spawn a successful single, it nevertheless went gold -- Cyrus' first album in eight years to do so -- and demonstrated the commercial power of his status as Miley's father. Riding on the wave of Hannah Montana's popularity, Cyrus released his tenth studio album, Home at Last, in 2007 on the Disney label. The album debuted at number 20 on the U.S. Billboard charts, both reestablishing Cyrus as a presence in country music and highlighting the popularity (not to mention influence) of his daughter's show. Love Songs, a collection drawn from his peak years with Mercury, was released early in 2008, followed in 2009 by a new studio project, Back to Tennessee, on Hollywood Records. ~ Tom Roland & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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