Billy Ray Cyrus demands your attention when he walks into the room. We were so excited to have him by this week to talk about his new song he released with Snoop Dogg and the amazing story behind it. Bobby and Billy Ray talk about how he burst onto the scene with Achy Breaky Heart. But before that how times had to get really dark before he could find his path. Billy Ray also came bearing his left-handed guitar and weaved songs throughout the stories from his life that made for a truly unique experience. Billy Ray also talks about the best advice he was given by Dolly Parton and the moment he decided to get sober.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, here we are episode three forty with Billy Ray Cyrus.
So he's got a new song out and I'll play
it for you in a second. But we talked about
all of it. His early life, he worked working at
a bar, it burned down, why he went to l A,
why it came to Nashville. I mean, it's a whole story.
Some of it I knew roughly, but I mean I
learned a lot about Billy Ray. And he brought his
guitar and I was feeling bad for a sec because
(00:24):
he was just sitting with it, and then I realized
he wants to play some stuff as he told stories.
Yeah that was cool. Yeah, it was really cool. I
really like Billy Ray. And so he came over to
the house after the interview was over. He was wearing
like this jacket and I saw the brand on it
and I was like, dang, okay very and he's like
and I told him how to say the name of
the brand and he's like, oh, that's how you say.
It was like, well, why do you have that expensive
(00:45):
jacket if you did not say the name of the brand.
He's like, oh no, I gave me that is that.
It was cool, So his daughter gave it to him
and I was like, yeah, I look at that. But
we just had a good time. I mean, Billy Rays
the man, we do talk about it all. It's funny
too about how Achy breaking Heart got its name because
that wasn't the name of the song because he's a
different song. It was called Don't Tell My Heart, But
how Ach You Breaking Heart was called that. He talks
(01:05):
about that. We talked about you know, Snoop Dogg a lot.
But here you go, before we get to the interview,
here is a hard working man, Billy Ray Cyrus, Snoop
Dogg and the Avila Brothers. So you gotta time to
get you. You gotta be made. You see, so new
(01:43):
songs out today. We'll talk about the song, we'll talk
about his life. Here you go, Billy Ray Cyrus. It's
a Bobby cast. It was super cool to do. I
was listening to your song. I guess a couple of
days ago they sent me like the that's not really
a peak was not a sneak peak, but that the
early version of it and it said Billy Ray and
(02:04):
Snoop Dogg and who else on it? The brothers. Yes, yeah,
I was like, well this will be an interesting listen.
I like how like like it's about hard, like how grimy.
It feels like hard working, like that's the texture of it.
Felt like what you were saying in the song. And
so I really thought it was cool. I didn't know
what to expect. How did how in the world did
(02:26):
this collaboration with you three guys come together? It was
pretty special, you know. And and it started with the
fact that I come from the Ohio River Valley and
steel mills, working people, and said they Snoop Dogg wanted
to do a song for the working man. And when
I first heard it, it was a little different connotation
(02:47):
of what it is now. And uh, I said, man,
you don't be cool about this. I love all the
working stuff. And I said, it's having the man. It
is a working man, but without the woman, the man
ain't nothing. We all, oh, if mama ain't happen to
nobody's happy, and we get this has to actually be
a tip of the hat to mama. And also let's
(03:07):
put some positive food in there for the kids. Elbow
Grease Snoop sings about elbow Grease. Well, we all know that,
you know, hard work is is the key to everything.
I mean, I've never had anything in life that was
worth anything that came easy. It always seems like there's
some elbow grease involved. And knowing that if you can
(03:29):
think it, you can be it, you can do it.
What's gonna take some work. And that's what the song
is about. And I think we found a nice balance
of um, you know, putting that the food in there,
tipping the hat to all the people, men and women
that make this world go around. It's a hard working
you know, hard work of man, hard working woman, and
keep mama happy. Whenever they because you say you were
(03:53):
approached to be in the song, is that I'm getting
my order right right? Like they came to you and said, hey,
we have the song. This is kind of what the
idea is. So do you have a lot of uh
input on the creative of Okay, I'm gonna be in this,
but this is my vision as well? And do they
is it kind of molded so all of you have
your own voice in there. They came to me with
UM and this was before Snoop was in UM. It
(04:14):
was just a title and a little bit of a
hard working man that was really leaning a little bit
more towards um like a physical like labor, like physical labor,
talking about that sexual Oh that kind of hard working man.
Got it. Yeah, it was a little it was kind
of going that direction. I said, hey, you know what,
I really liked this idea, but let's really let's let's
(04:35):
make it something more than that. Let's let's really and
and again. This this started over a year ago and
it was the title and just this thought of a
workingman's song. And it's a little bit of kind of
what you said, kind of that little It was basically
some drums and some banging and clanging of like um,
(04:55):
I felt like work was being done, Work was being done,
and the songle wow, man put some positive food in
here for the kids and the people that have a dream.
Let's put make this song about something this moment. And
we all know that the frontline workers, the truck drivers,
the steel meals, that's that's what makes America go round.
And we're all going through this list. So that was
(05:17):
over a year and a couple of months ago when
i'm I came up with a bit of the you
gotta go back to what Mama said. Mama said, it's
gonna take some elbow grease and Mama. It's the whole
world revolves around mama. Speaking of mama, your wedding ring.
Is that tattoo so you don't so you don't have
to remember to wear one? Or is it a hang
(05:38):
on your guitar? Like? What's the The practical reason is
that it does get Uh, it's hard to wear any jewelry, though,
I will strap it on. When you see the video,
he said, got quite a bit of bling on. I'm thinking,
what man, I'm doing this with snoop. But I started
finding anything shining. I started wearing it like I'm I'm
pretty sure hanging forks on your neck, anything that would
(05:58):
have any reflection at all, you put it on. Put
it on. You'll sit in a video when you did
how long I go? Did you do the ring on
your finger? Long time ago? And was that your idea
or your wife's idea? I really don't remember. But I
like it because I always like I take it off,
I fiddle with it, and then I have a formal
(06:19):
ring as well, because this is a piece of rubber
and I always leave it behind. And if I just
get the tattoo like that looks real cool, I don't
look as cool as you. So what my vibe? I know,
I like, I'm a big nerd like it fits your
vibe and you know, but I like that well. It
really bothered me when I played to have a ring on,
especially on his hand, and it was always getting caught
(06:40):
on the strings. And yes, it worked out pretty good.
Are you still playing a lot of shows? Gosh, she's
been so long. I played a couple. I would call
it a couple shows. Like most everything I've had over
the last two years, UM were either canceled or moved
because COVID, And it really hurt because my goal was
(07:02):
after coming out of twenty nineteen, I was going to
spend all of just celebrating the fans and still being
here all these years later, and obviously Old Town Road
and the youth of the music. The shows were so
cool up to that point. We were getting booked for
a lot of huge festivals and great crowds, and then
like everybody, UM pretty much. You know, I came out
(07:24):
of the Grammys of and fortunately they handed me a couple,
But the next thing I know, they shut the lights off,
and it's been like a pretty dark couple of years.
Are you still in shape to perform, meaning I did
some stand up at an hour stand up at an
event a few weeks ago. And it wasn't that I
(07:45):
remember my jokes and it wasn't that my timing wasn't
all there, but I just hadn't done it a lot
in my voice wasn't quite just I wasn't in shape
to do an hour of stand up. And when you
hop back on the stage, are you is good to go?
Or is it stamon? You have to build up. I
really haven't done a real show of those. Yeah, Um,
(08:08):
it's been you know, I'm I'm looking forward to it.
We've got one coming up and it's probably gonna be
that because I am much better to be in shape
vocally though. I've been doing a lot of singing, do
a lot of writing. I wrote a couple of albums
during this and stuff that's really even this song, Uh,
hard working man, you know, it's all part of for me,
(08:29):
the therapy of leaning into the music. It was all
the light that I could find and faith that this
thing is there's gonna be a better day. I just
gotta make it through this storm. And like everybody, it's
been a hell of a storm. I'm curious I'm gonna
ask you in just second about your like your Nashville,
your genesis story of you coming to town. You have
your guitar with you right now always because you're left handed.
(08:51):
Where's yours? I have actually have one of yours that
I keep in a very special place that I'm so
afraid to play it because it's a John Lennon and
you wrote a little note on the back of it,
and I just I'm just like, if if I play it,
I'm not great and I I won't break it or I'm
gonna scratch it, and that this is Billy ray cires
(09:12):
a guitar. So I played it like twice and then
it sits for people to look at other than that. Well,
I see, I had this vision. I'm just playing. Oh yeah,
I want that. I don't ever get to play with
another lefty. But you don't thought, Okay, that's gonna be
great handed. Can I see your guitar? Yeah, sure, it's
even into I want to pick now good and I'm
just gonna play. But I'm gonna dumb. My songs are
(09:35):
so I'm playing. Okay, there you go, seek Pope comes
in handy you ape with there. So when I write songs.
There are songs about my life, but in a different way.
You know. Whenever I was growing up as a kid,
I was like, man, when I get a job, I'm
get a uniform, I'm gonna get girls because I never
got girls. And I'm assuming a lot of the music
(09:56):
that you did was early on to fill your creative cup,
but also have girls like you. Right, It seemed kind
of great part of it being in a band. But
every you know, everybody wants to be the Beatles when
you start a band. I started working a hobby lobby
for the same reason so girls would like me. And
I know you're laughing because you think hobby lobby no girls,
and you'd be correct, Billy, there are no girls that
(10:17):
like a guy at hobby lobby. Then they gave me
my name tag and it said hobby Lobby Bobby. Wow.
And then it was my name is hobby Lobby Bobby.
If you like arts and crafts, just call me. I
can see. So. So that's also that this is not
(10:38):
for me. No one wants to hear me sing. You
kind of wrote a hard working man, only the hobby
lobby version. All right, here we go. I'll give you
one one verse of question and you do a verse
of chorus. We'll do a guitar pulled back and forth. Okay,
here we go. Let me try this one. This is
another little song. There was an accident. It happened, and
we'll do it. Are we go? I needed food formal laborador,
(11:03):
so I went down to my favorite store. I didn't
think about the close I wore, but I learned a
hard lesson, that's for sure. I want two, three, four.
Don't go shopping at Target with khaki pants and a
red shirt on. Don't go shopping in to see a
little comedy song. The Offree laughs. They're like, yeah, that's
(11:27):
so funny. Yeah, this awesome turn. Versus versus. You don't
need them. Yes, you don't need to hear anything. But
I had a hobby lobby job and it was in
You didn't work at hobby lobby, well, it was closed
pursuing my in the early years. You want to hear
a bit of the adventure my first four years. You
(11:48):
first Billy, yeah, and then I want to know all
about it. I'm let you put the guitar down for
a second, give me like a verse and of course
something good. Who's a man and devised the plan to
keep our farms alive. When the news said this country's did,
his music said survived when Nurse water Gate and World
(12:10):
eight the rest seems kind of silly. Don't y'all think
it's time to stop picking on Willie? I wrote that
in the late eighties, I was playing a place up
in West Virginia and Willie was going through some stuff,
and I wrote, to stop picking on Willie. So let's
(12:32):
go back to you knowing that Nashville was where you
needed to be to do what you wanted to do creatively.
When did you know that you were going to do
country music in Nashville, Tennessee. Well, my first trip came
by a couple of demos and Picture two and thinking, man,
(12:55):
that's it. I'm ready. My goal was to be a
singer songwriter and that God would give me the wisdom
envision to use my music to represent His light and
his love in this world. All I need to record
Deal eighty one became eighty two, two, three, three four,
And during the eighty four the bar I was planning,
uh Ironton, Ohio burnt to the ground and I saw
(13:17):
it on the news, and I went over there and
everything had melted. And I'm going through with a flashlight
and the waters dripping off the ceiling in in places
mouth at the drum, everything's gone. But this little bible
that I had found in the floor had parted into
the middle from the heat. And I shot my flashlight
on it, and I said, with every adversity lost the
(13:39):
seed to something better. And I stood there and in
the darkness, man, this is God telling you. Every time
you go to Nashville, they say your rock and roll,
You're You're not country enough, your rock and roll. So
I said, this is God telling you. You need to
move to l A. You love rock and roll, and
so um. Next couple of weeks I left out of
(14:02):
Ohio and I moved to l A. And UM got
out there and found everybody telling me I was to country,
and certainly with my name didn't help at all. Billy
ray On, Billy ray you you got a mullet, you
wear a cowboy hat, and your you look you you
look in sound country. Surely your country. I said, no,
I love rock and roll. But unfortunately I didn't get
(14:25):
any jobs or a record deal and appoint me in.
Out of desperation, I got a job at Baby toy
Town and baby toy Town is very, very similar to
hobby lobby. You've been a baby toy town? I don't.
I don't think I've ever heard of baby is. It
is baby toy Town on Vanice Boulevard. It was in
the San Fernando Valley. What do they sell? Baby supplies,
(14:47):
baby beds, baby strollers, baby everything you would need for
a baby. Were you now an expert in all things baby?
And quickly I was a horrible, horrible salesman and a
horrible whatever. I was just terrible aided my job. Oddly enough,
somebody came in and uh, I did sell Pat benatar
Um a baby stroller and some stuff. And that was
(15:08):
as close to the making it as I came. But
through our failures, as Thomas Edison said, every time you fail,
you eliminate that one way that won't work, therefore being
one way closer to the one way that will. And
I failed way more times than I ever succeeded, like
by far way more times of failure, And in some
ways California too, was just an extension of all my
(15:31):
failures in Nashville. But I took what I learned from
l A and a couple of years later in l
a and my darkest moment said Okay, now go back,
go back to Nashville with what you've learned here and
use everything you've learned. And just persistence is to the
quality of the character of man. What carbon is to steal.
Just keep be a jackhammer, pape p. It's not the
(15:55):
force of the jackhammer that breaks the concrete, it's the repetition.
Just keep going, persistence. I kept knocking and UM nineteen
eight nine nine UM nine. In one week, I wrote
three of the songs off the album Some Gay All,
including some Gay Ball. I had met a Vietnam veteran
(16:17):
in Huntington, West Virginia at the little bar I played
that night, and that song happened to be the song
that I played for Harold shed when after ten years
of being told no for the first time, somebody said yes.
And that was the song that made someone go, hey,
I see like a flicker of something in I came
in and uh it was actually I was that was down.
(16:39):
That was gonna be my last try. I said, if
this doesn't work, I better get a job at the railroad.
And I had this song I've written some gay Balls.
The song I should play. And then he said, I'm
gonna structure you a little deal, and Mercury Records started
up process of offered me a record deally. It took
a year or two to make that and the album record.
(17:02):
It actually took two weeks to make the record. In
the summer of two weeks. I was living in my
car parked in the parking lot of the music meal
and we recorded all ten nine tracks during the first
week of June, and I stuck around and saying all
my vocals and did all my harmonies and all my overdubs.
On the second week of June, and then I went
(17:24):
back to my gig in West Virginia and got fired
A big fistbote broke out and and some guns were involved,
and me and the band stopped playing, and the owner said,
if you don't keep playing, you're fired. So I out
of the highest moment of my life came the lowest,
and I found myself in Richmond, Virginia, at a disco
(17:44):
where they just hated us. I mean they hated everything
we did except for when we would play this new
song i'd cut called at the time, it was called
Don't Tell My Heart. And I noticed no matter how
bad they hated us. When I played Don't Tell My Heart,
they packed the dance floor. And and after that I
told Mercury Records said, man, that one song, don't Tell
My Heart. Um, it's a dance song. The even the
(18:08):
boot scooters, they'd get out there and scoot them boots
across the floor. And I said, I think that song
might be called Achy breaky Heart because they ought the
drunks and or whoever always say play at Acy breaking song.
That's how you suggested it. Because the people at the
bar were like play but it was called Don't Tell
My Heart? And um don band trast the Vietnam veteran
who ironically wrote the song, when he came to meet
(18:31):
me at the music meal. Um, I said, hey, uh, sir,
did you ever think about changing the name of that
song to Achy breaking Heart? And he said, I don't
care what you call it. Let's just get it. Get
him to put it out, and uh they did And
did you think? And I have some questions about ak
you breaking on a minute, but some gave all that's
that's what you running my guitar like. And also have
(18:52):
affinity for that song and for the message when you
cut that record, which is Some Gave All that's the
title track. Did you feel like that was going to
be like the song for you that represented who you were? First?
Everything was on the line with some gay Ball because
that was the big test for me and my band.
(19:12):
One of the things I had insisted on was I
wanted to use my band on the session. We played
every night together and we'd worked the songs up very
similar to the Springsteen E Street sound. We just had
a band sound. I said, I really want to use
my band, and Harold Ship said, you know, why don't
we We'll trying for one song, and on January thought,
(19:32):
uh third of They gave us a test at the
meal and we got to cut one song and we
cut Some Gave All and they said, Okay, we love it.
Let's do nine more. And they scheduled the nine for
the June. So that's like, oh man, I gotta live
five six more months. And that's when Don't Tell My
(19:53):
Heart came into my life and I threw off one
of my songs I had written and added that one
just because it felt a special. So you threw off
so last the last song. Basically that was that package.
If some gave all the record was A Break Your
Heart Almost. I added one more that came that I
didn't write, and it was called it Could Have Been Me,
And it was the follow up to a You Break
(20:15):
Your Heart written by Reed Nielsen. And uh, those two
songs I added threw off to the mind. The one
I threw off was called Whiskey, Wine and Beer, and um,
I think I wrote it about the same time I
wrote Stop Picking on Willie. It kind of had. I
was in a kind of in that zone for a moment.
I was writing a bunch of songs in nine like
but um, whenever you break your heart, they come to
(20:39):
you and go, hey, want this to be the first single?
Are you like? I agree? Or are you like? I
don't know. I have these other songs that I feel
very passionate about. I felt like there was a one,
like there was something about it that especially um, just
because when we would play it, you could just feel
the energy and the dance floors would pack and again.
(20:59):
But then I started getting these little jobs at country
clubs were there a lot of bootscoot dancing and that
kind of thing, and and that really wasn't my expertise.
It was more like, either I was playing southern rock
or songs I'd written, or George Jones and Johnny Cash
and like the standards of country and uh. But when
(21:20):
I play a key breaky, they just pack it out
and it just so that was kind of it felt
like a hit. I don't know what a hit feels like,
but it felt like it, you know, when I think
back about you in my childhood. Obviously, ak breaking Up
(21:41):
was a massive song, but my song was where am
I Gonna Live? When I get I mean I loved
and that video on CMT. Do you still play that? Oh? Yeah, yeah.
I did a little bit of right now Where am I? Like?
Where am I gone Live? When I get home? My
(22:02):
own lady throw down everything out? She man walk, she
said when she wished out was dead, So we're my
gone little will not get home. That song to me
is you thank you. And I don't know how you
(22:22):
feel about that, because I feel you have me. I
do feel like me again. And that was during the
month of May of nine. And what had happened was
the gig got playing West Virginia. We'd start on Tuesday
night when we played Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
so five nights a week before sat tonight, and on
(22:44):
a Tuesday night, I stayed out all night up to
the next morning. And I was married to a very
kind lady in Ohio at the time, and I didn't
come home. It was sunrise Wednesday morning, and I probably
wreaked of liquor and um maybe some lipstick on my collar.
I don't know, but it was ugly, and I like
(23:05):
the son's up and my normal neighbors that have real
jobs are going to work, and I'm out in front
of the house in that red truck that's in the video,
and I'm going, where am I gonna live? Where am
I gonna look? Where am I gonna live? When I
get homeless? I wrote it right then. Well then I
go in, everything goes the crap, and but I had
the song. And then that night I went back to
(23:25):
the gig and I was pretty down and depressed and sad,
and I wrote She's not crying Anymore on Wednesday, and
then I didn't write anything on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
And on Sunday I met Sandy Kane and wrote some
gave ball. So during that one week of May, I
wrote three of those songs. In uh nine nine during
that week, all in a week. In a week, it's
(23:47):
almost Dolly esque when she goes, you know, I sat
down for this day and I wrote these two songs.
And you know you're like, well, I know both of
those songs. You wrote them the same day. The fact
that you kind of nailed those three in that time period,
and I feel like, creatively, it almost takes things to
happen to us to kind of, um create emotion and
share emotion. What was happening in your life that had
(24:10):
you feeling these feelings to create this dynamic music you think.
I think it was an excess of alcohol. Um, there
was probably some. I hate to even say there was.
It was a pretty rough time. It was a very
excessive alcohol. When you say excessive, did you know it
(24:31):
was a problem. Are we just partying too hard? I
was actually working. It was like part of my job.
I always had a rule. I said, Okay, I go
play the first set completely straight, straight up. Could you
play straight and feel? Yeah? I felt really good. I
always felt like the first set was like probably my
most correct and then um the second set, like in
between the break, I might um take a little puff
(24:54):
and then UM go up to the second set and
I feel looserd That's probably the best set of the night.
But by the third set I'd have a puff uh
possibly unfortunately, maybe a snort um unfortunately. Like then came
like it was part of people partying with send me
drinks and some of those drinks would be on fire.
(25:16):
Someone would be like double shots of who knows what,
I don't know what it takes the light of drink
up and then blow it out and drink. But I
would do that. It was so about third set with
rocket pretty hard. For set, I was probably legally drunk.
And unfortunately, Um, Keith Whitley was from my neck of
(25:37):
the woods up there in Kentucky, and I was a
huge Keith Whitley fan and um, when he died that
had a big impact on me, like I can't finally
get to this point where my dreams about to come true,
but yet I have some issues. So him him having
his issues and dying, do you feel like it was
(25:59):
kind of a r He saved my life. I mean,
this is no other way to say it. He saved
my life because my manager, Jack McFadden, was Keith Whitley's manager,
and he was he was like a son to Jack,
and Jack at that point I was on his roster,
but he had never seen me play, never heard my music,
didn't know exactly what it was that I did, but
he knew it wasn't exactly straight up country. And Jack
(26:22):
had managed Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and Keith Whitley
and tragically on May to Night and again this is
nine Um May to Night. Um. Jack was gonna take
me to Sony Records for the first time. Jack was
gonna take me anywhere. And again, I don't think he'd
even heard any of my songs, but we had an appointment.
(26:44):
So I came down on the eighth. Tragically, Keith Whitley
UH passed away on the morning of the ninth, and
UH the meeting was canceled, obviously, and I drove back
home to Huntington, West Virginia, and UH played on No
Ranger to the Rain over and over and over and
over and over. I better played a hundred times between
here and Huntington's and it just had a huge impact
(27:09):
on me. And UH, luckily and m nineteen and ninety one,
when I realized that, hey, Cyrus, You're about to get
your chance. This this you've got the album that everybody
seems to really believe something that well, they told me,
he said, Man, hang in there, this is about to happen.
(27:30):
And I stopped at a bridge down here on the
harpor somewhere and through all my stuff into the river,
and I said, I can't do this and and not
be my very best stuff. Worked your stuff do you mean?
Do you mean your actual stuff for drugs? Cocaine? I
(27:53):
pulled over and threw my damn cocaine out. Would you
have considered yourself an addict or someone who and I
come from a massive family of addictions. So were you
an addict? Or are you someone who just enjoyed it
but could also if you needed to stop stop? I
don't think I could stop stop, especially on alcohol, because
I drank since I was a kid, and I ain't
(28:15):
had a beer sense like I mean that I had
to stop everything. Except I did say, you know what,
having a little puff every now and then, if marijuana
helps me, it's medicine to me. And uh so I
kind of allowed myself to say, Okay, if you get
rid of these two devil alcohol in the cocaine, you
can keep a little bit of the marijuana because that's
(28:37):
kind of your medicine and um and you never look back. No. Wow.
The fact that you stopped, drew a line and stood
at that line says a lot about who you are
deep down, like you, and I think it showed itself
over and over again with the things you're able to achieve.
(28:57):
Like you, here's the line, this is my goal, this
is when going to achieve and I'm not going to
cross this. And that was a massive step to me.
I guess I'm surprised in a way, not at you,
but when you hit so hard and you're on and
you are a superstar. Now that when you have all
every resource, everything is available to you again, available more
than it's ever been to you, by the way you
(29:18):
have money, you have, fame, you have you. Still I
didn't get back into it, that run from it. That
is amazing. I can't. I don't want it around me
and I don't need won't be a tempted by it
because it never goes away sometimes, I joked. I joked
with my little girl Know a couple of weeks ago,
came to see me. She said, where are you at? Dad?
(29:39):
I sit down on the banks of the harp with
what are you doing, I said, looking for my cocaine.
I thought the way of not anyone. She laughed, Really,
I know it's a horrible joke, but she thought it was.
She knew the story and so being able to joke
about it a little bit. But um, I never knew
anybody that anything could come out of cocaine. I don't
know I've I've ever had a drink because I'm so
(30:01):
scared of it. My mom was an addict and she
died in her forties. I never knew my dad because
he was an addict, and so I just I'm an
addict to a lot of things. But I've purposefully kept
myself off of drugs and alcohol because I know I will.
I know I love it. I know that I will
embrace it and it will be over for me before
(30:22):
it starts. And so I made that decision like I
drew that line, and it's difficult. But to experience it
like you did and then to stop, I think that's
even harder to do, and to never look back at
it like that is inspiration for a lot of people
that are listening to this right now. I appreciate you
sharing the story. I haven't talked about it very much. Um,
when I think back, ever, I don't know that I've
ever been in this moment to just say, but I
(30:45):
think like we're all in a moment of purpose right now.
I'm trying to find my purpose in this moment coming
out of these last couple of years. Same. Wait, this
can't be an accident that you survived COVID twice and
that the whole world changed and somehow you just somehow
you made it through it. So God kept you here
and you found this song, and I wrote this thing
(31:09):
with Snoop and the brothers, and it kind of came
for this moment of tipping your hat to the working
men and women of the country and around the world
and giving kids food for thought of how to reach
their dreams. Again. When I bought a guitar and started
a band, I prayed God would give me the wisdom
and vision to use the music to fulfill my purpose
(31:29):
and the life. So to be in this moment now
and to be honest with you, I think that's kind
of going full circle of kind of what I need
to do as a dad, you know, And you're talking
now about you know, what you want to leave for
people here now? And for fut generations and the message
(31:50):
that you want to, you know, spread. Did you feel
like that with your kids when they were like, you're
a dad and now it's your goal to make sure
that they grow up and know this about society and
how hard it is they after work? Was that important
to you really? I always said, watch what I do
and don't do that. That's a joke, No, I think again, no, No.
(32:11):
I would say that to him though, and then I'd say, well,
here's the deal, you know, if they really ask me.
Somebody said, man, there's a key to life. I just
know that there are no accidents, no coincidences. Everything that
you be, have or do in this world starts with
the thought that you have in your mind. Every thought
you have is a seat and it's up to you
(32:34):
to take that seat and nurture it to where you
want it to grow and what you want to do
with your life. Knowing that it's all about purpose. It's
not an accident that we're here in this moment, and um,
you know most of all, just you know, saying that
you know, keep on keeping on and believe and know
that be a jackhammer. That's kind of the the running
(32:56):
thing with my kids, they'll say to each other, be
a jackhammer, and I always know that they're talking about
persistence whenever you were young, teenage years because just you know,
being a kid and watching you were just ripped like
muscles on muscles, tank top muscles and muscles like you
had to be some sort of athlete, crazy athletes. Honestly,
(33:19):
Noah showed me a couple of weeks ago, this thing
of thirty years ago. I made my first appearance at
the Grammys and lost five. Few people can go from
nothing to losing five Grammys and onnot. But I was
very I don't, I don't. I was very grateful that
moment I knew I wasn't gonna win one, so I
wore a T shirt that I cut the sleeves out
of it said John three sixteen. It's floating around out
(33:40):
somewhere that I see the picture in my head right now,
and it's embarrassing to say, but oddly, yeah, I did
look more like a linebacker than and and um um.
But the point was seeing I was gonna be a
professional baseball player up until I was twenty years old,
nineteen twenty years old, and um as as things started happening,
(34:02):
oddly enough, this jacket and you'll see if I turn
around in this video with Snoop, I took a silver sharpie.
I wear a leather jacket. But I'm in this full
circle moment. And Noah had said to me, and she
showed me that video, Damn, look at you John three sixteen.
And I wore the shirt because I knew I wasn't
gonna win a Grammy. But I wanted to say thank
you God for allowing me to persist and pursue this
(34:26):
dream and not give up because I'm here now, and
I wanted to say thanks, knowing I wouldn't win, and
get the stand up and say thank you God for
this moment. So I was that shirt as that reason,
and UM, Noah said, well you can do It's thirty
years later. And so I took a silver sharpie and
I wrote John three sixteen on the back of my
leather jacket. I didn't wear it in here, but it's
(34:48):
in the video. I'm gonna wear it this weekend in Vegas.
And UM, I think there's a lot to that, knowing
that UM, somewhere along the line, you know you you
just gotta remember, um, what this journey is all about
I saw a clip the Snoop had posted on his Instagram.
I'm trying to think of where I saw it. But
you were in the was it behind the scenes stuff
(35:09):
when you guys are making this song? There was a couple, Yeah,
possibly what did it? Which one did he do? Well?
To me? I remember being surprised that you were together
because so many collaborations now, I would say most are
done where somebody cuts it here that you send over
the stems and try you do. But you guys were
together in the video and where was that? Was it?
(35:30):
It was that this truck stop um over on Interstate
forty um off of I guess close to Old Hickory
where forty hits on Kingston Springs sort of there in
a big truck by the old prison and there's a
massive truck stop there and man, he went full on video.
I couldn't believe him. Um it felt really good. It
was this past Sunday morning, at nine o'clock in the
(35:54):
morning on a Sunday, and you get the message that
Snoop wants to see in the back of the bus
and I was like, oh man, I'm already for this video.
Rested up and who can say no to that. So
I go out and go start making my way back
through Snoop's bus somewhere along the way, like thinking, man,
I'm learning go like they start getting little foggy and
(36:18):
and uh. And so we talked a little bit and
I stood there and that we got off the bus
and we just started rocking. I mean, we started rocking
and it felt good. And there I was at ten
o'clock in the morning, man up on top of a
semi truck and Snoop was we started singing this song
with was saying everything in this business, everybody's borrowing something
(36:38):
from Chuck Berry. And we I started doing this thing
on the guitar and I'm like, Snoop started beating the
truck and he's saying, Oh, tell them the tip your
hat to Chuck. So we wrote a kind of a
song up on top of the truck about Chuck Berry.
So you wrote a song. We wrote a song on
(36:59):
top of the truck called uh kind of a tip
your hat to Chuck, very sort of thing. And then
we climbed down off. I remember one of the little
clips was like here it comes to if he said, hey, man,
I got this show. I got this show. It's called
Who's Holding the Blood? And I don't know if he's
posted that one yet, but it was this brown log
looking thing and uh, and then naturally everything is a
(37:21):
song Amazon next thing, I couldn't stop thinking, who's holding blood?
Who's holding the blood? That dog go hunt Who's holding
the blood. So when it's hard to tell him what,
Mike is gonna pop up with me and Snoop. But um,
it was a special that I can't wait for the
video to come out. The song comes out April one,
(37:41):
you know it for me? Which is today, right, Mike? Today?
When when this comes out on April one, it will
be April one today. The song comes out today, song
comes out today, And I'm so excited today after all this,
And it has been a year in two months since
I was first approached with the idea of a hard
(38:03):
working man and a song was Snoop Dogg. And usually
if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
But something about this really stuck with me. I just
couldn't let go. And I said, well, I'm gonna do it.
Let's let's write the song really good and making us
something special. And then Snoop came in and wrote his
rap that I mean, man, it's all about the dream.
(38:24):
I love what Snoop added to it and long beholded
it again, persistence and not giving up. There was a
lot of times I looked at this said, I guess
the that track about the hard working man, it just
fell away or whatever, but it found its way home
and now here we are and it's coming out today,
and it's today like a I watch you play, and
(38:47):
it's odd because I don't get to watch other people
like me they're left handed. You know, if I go
somewhere and they're passing around a guitar and they're like,
I never get to play because I'm left handed. There's
never a has being left handed plagued your life in
a way musically? Always, For the first twenty years of
my life, I thought I couldn't play because I was
only surrounded by right handed guitars. So if I ever
(39:08):
picked anybody's up, and I'd actually keep my dad's guitar
and study these guitar books, and no matter what, it
just never would make sense in my head. And I
just said, came to the clarity that I was meant
to be a baseball player, that I couldn't play guitar.
Did you throw left handed through right handed? Wow? Weird
right hand? But yeah? And I kicked left footed, but
(39:31):
I right left handed. I brush my teeth with my
left hand. But you do all that left hand, but
you throw right handed. I never heard of such thing.
I pretty mixed up. You right left handed, but you
throw right handed. I've heard of people kicking opposite footage
in their hand, but can you can you throw both handed? No,
not at all. That is bizarre. I know it was crazy,
(39:51):
and that's why I like when this boy starts telling me,
by guitars, start a band, you'll find your purpose in life.
And I'm gonna know my purpose. I'm gonna beat Johnny Bench,
I'll be a your for Cincinnati Reds and uh, by
a guitar and started band, You'll find your purpose in life.
I'm going. And finally I broke down after I'd won
these tickets to see Neil Diamond and he had this
inspirational show, and I'm going. I pulled my truck over
(40:13):
on the side of the road and I said crowded
to the stars and said, God, but I can't play guitar.
And the voice called back and said by left handed guitar.
And the next day I found one down in Portsmouth, Ohio.
And as soon as I held it in the store,
everything that I've been studying right handed, it all of
a sudden made sense. Holding the right guitar left handed.
I guess my brain was just wired that way. It
(40:36):
feels like thor in the hammer. Like a lot of
people try like you. You tried all the other guitars,
but finally the right one. It was like you have
all the power. But that's what it feels like right there.
I headed upside down and backwards, and they're so different
in the right hand and the left handed guitar, and
and they just had this one. And soon I started
a band that night and we just started playing and yeah, yeah,
(40:59):
And was how many of those guys hung around your
life for a bit? Did they move around with you
at all? I lost a lot of them. Um when
the bar burnt down in and Ironton, Ohio, and I
moved to l A. But my brother was in the band,
my brother Keebo, and he's still up in Kentucky. He's
an excellent guitar player, and to me, he'll always be
(41:21):
in the band. He's part of what we started. So
you have this song with snoop Um. When Oldtown Road
came out. You know, that was for some people, weird
for me because I was such a fan growing up.
Some people was the introduction, Like for young kids, that's
(41:42):
the first time they've ever seen you and you're on
this massive song. How did that call come to you, going, hey,
we need you to get here. We're gonna do this
new version of Oldtown Road? Now? Who called you UM
on Oldtown Road? It was Um. Little Noz put out
the first a p B on Billy Ray sire us
Um way before the song even charted at all. I
(42:03):
think he put up a little TikTok or something and
and said, can anybody get this song to Billy Ray Cyrus.
That's how you first heard about it, but I didn't
hear about it. Then it took a couple more months
and and the song was rising. Columbia came and signed
a Little Nose and somewhere during uh right about the
same time rem March the tenth or eleventh that um,
(42:28):
Columbia sent me the song and said would you sing
this um and maybe write a verse for it? And
I listened to it one time and I just fell
in love with I said, this guy don't need an
extra verse and he doesn't need my voice on it.
But I love this song. And they said when can
you do it? And I said today and they said, oh,
(42:50):
it's a it's how about Saturday tomorrow? I said, asked
book it and it was in l A and went
to Sunset Studio. I wrote my verse the edge and
sang mom thang and did the whistle? That was that?
That it was? They said I was done, and they said,
is there anything I should think? I said, have you
ever thought about? Uh? Maybe? I said, listen, this is um.
(43:13):
They're just and they're like, oh, man, little note to
do it? Do it all the way through it. Man.
So I whistled, do the song on the long Maho.
Now I'm the whistler for little nos bts on the
whistler for snoop. There's a there's a whistle in our tune. UM.
Never dreamed anybody would give a crap about my whistle. There, whistler,
(43:39):
I think you had worshop. I think we both had
worob The whistler actually actually whistled while I worked at
Baby Toy Town. Whenever you look at your career like
from uh ten thousand feet up, like you've been able
to consistently come back and be successful in all these
different areas music and then television when you know you
(44:01):
did the show with Miley music again, you keep reinventing
how you do music like your girl Like, what in
the world who are you having these conversations with it?
It's like, all right, Billy, right, that's what you need
to do now. M Honestly, Dolly, first and foremost, get
into acting. Don't be dependent on radio for a career.
(44:24):
She said that to you, Chris Christofferson, um White and
Jenny and most importantly, my dad said, look at Kenny Rodgers,
like I have one of those kind of careers. I said, Dad,
how do you? I'd love to, but how do you
do that? He said, you got to get into acting.
And I said, you know, I ain't even been in
(44:46):
a church play. I can't act. He said, I'm sure.
It's just like everything else, you just gotta start. And
that is that such good advice. It is good advice.
No matter what you're gonna do in life, you ain't
never gonna get it done if you don't start. And
so started, and luckily I got hired but uh, David
Lynch from malland Drive, and that led to doc and
(45:09):
then pretty soon unfortunately, yet fortunately, I found myself living
as an actor. But I'm really just a singer songwriter
from Flatwoods, Kentucky, and I was much more comfortable just
being a musician. In some ways, I'm glad I did
what I did, but it it took away maybe some
of my best years as a singer songwriter. But I
don't know that I would ever wrote. I might not
(45:30):
even be here without that those moments, so I can't
second guess it. But that's why I looked so forward
to this moment. I hope the world opens back up
and we get to play these shows that we have
booked and that more are coming because I to me, mahi,
what I really realized from the time I bought a
guitar and started a band. My high is the celebration
(45:53):
of music with the fans and the band and the
song all coming together other at one moment when everyone
can be in unison and harmony. That's as high as
I get, and I love it. That's That's what I
want to do with the rest of my life, is
just play some shows people come together, sing, dance, live, love, laugh,
(46:17):
And if there is any food for thought, if there's
someone that looks at my life and says, you don't
what if he can do it, I can do it.
If he can reach his dreams, I can reach my dreams.
And then maybe some kid might say, what was that
he said about be a jackhammer? Yeah, jackhammer? Keep on
keeping on. I actually, during the pandemic, wrote a song
called keep on Keeping On Like it's it's the philosophy,
(46:39):
you gotta do it. Yeah. I appreciate your dad's words,
and I think it's been said a few different ways,
but I like that you like, you just have to start.
You just have to Your dad though, if I'm correct,
was he a millworker. He was. He was a steel
worker of it, armcoat steel. And so that had to
have an impact on YouTube because my step dad worked
(47:00):
at a sawmill and I would see him come home,
and you know, my mom didn't remarr until I was
twelve or thirteen, but had no stability until him at all.
But he would come home. He would work so hard,
but he hated his job and he and he would
always say to me, I said, I hate this job.
You need to find something you love to do, because
(47:21):
at least you'll love doing it. Like, find something you love.
Don't be like me, don't work in the mill all
day to just get a paycheck. Did your dad pass
along any of that to you or do he like
his mill job. My dad was a people's man, and
once at the steel mill, he saw a man uh
lucy's legs from a falling crane, and unfortunately the company
(47:44):
um wasn't doing right by his family, and my dad
ended up uh leaving his job and putting himself through
college and became a state representative in Kentucky and became
in the head of the a f l c O
in State of Kentucky, working for working men and women's rights.
(48:05):
So he did it and then stood for the people
that also did it. That's another thing that turned me
on so much about hard working man. I said, you
know what, in a way, I feel a bit of
my dad's spirit in this song. I was raised knowing
that it's the hard working men and women of this
country that make those mills go, that make the trains run,
(48:25):
that drive the trucks. And you know, it's kind of
a philosophy, and there's another side of the steel mill
that I knew a little bit about steel. And then
somewhere when I bought a guitar and started a band,
I said, I gotta harness everything in my mind to
make this happen. I started studying, and somewhere I read
that persistence is to the quality of the character of man,
(48:48):
what carbon is to steal. And I knew that without
carbon and steel, steel was just plastic or rubber. That
made sense to me. Persistence. Everybody I'm studying keeps coming
back to be a jackhammer, keep on keeping on. Persistence.
It's not a very glorified word, but man's is important. Okay,
(49:10):
So today the song is out hard working man, Billy
Ray Cyrus is here with us. This is read read
runs all the video, all the fancy equipment. He always
asked one question, read what do you have for Billy Ray? Well,
I was going to ask about your song. It could
have been me if that was like, like involved a
true story or not, but you kind of answered that. Um,
(49:31):
But is there any kind of memory from either playing
a show or recording or anything that kind of sticks
out to you, is like one of your fondest memories.
I think maybe that moment at the Grammys and knowing
that the dream was in front of me now to
be as a good idea is only as good as
its execution. It has to do with me stopping all
(49:53):
the bad things and harnessing the good and leaning into
the music during that time, and most of all because
at that moment this would be the quintessential moment when
Johnny Cash wrote me a letter that said, recently saw
you giving credit to God for all your success. Always
remember that all things that are good come from oh
(50:13):
My to God above um. You remind me of my
friend Elvis Presley in your case, as in, he is
the good outweighs the bad. Let him have it. I'm
in your corner, loved Johnny Cash. And that was a
moment to me. It was during the storm of acy
(50:34):
breaky was as hot as it could get, and and
it was Johnny Cash wrote me that letter, and I said,
you know, if Johnny Cash says it's okay, then that
and then it's okay. Just do what he said, give
the glory to God. And what long after that I
wore that John three six short at the Grammy's and
realized that, you know, that's so never take up for granted,
(50:55):
knowing that all things that are good come from all
money got above. And I could have been me question too,
because I will tell you at that time both with
thank you breaking article man, this song is special, and
I thought I had the the other nine songs I
would need, and then I heard that, read Nielson doing
uh uh like his voice. Um, he just got married.
(51:22):
I took a month long honey moon, and you all
smiled at the wedding. You crowed when you kissed the ground.
I got no invitation. I guess the malman didn't bring
it to me. But I see the whole thing in
(51:44):
slow motion, even that that try to sleep my butter.
John said you look pretty pretty, and you acted like
you were in love. He said. The preacher ask for objections,
and he thought about standing. And when I heard that,
(52:07):
I thought, man, I gotta do that song. And uh
so I threw off to the mine and added aki
breaking and could have been made end up doing another
read Nelson on the second album which I became a hit. Um,
it was called I Know the Words by heart? Do
you ever hear? That's all? And that was written to me.
That was the follow up of it. Could have been
(52:28):
me was I know the words by heart and read Nielson.
Well you know I love you well, thank you, I
love you. Love having you around. Anytime I get to
see it's always a treat for me. You're just the
best you, and I appreciate your vulnerability. I think people
hear you and go, Man, that's somebody who says things
I need to hear. I think you did that here.
I think there's a lot of people that take your
message and use it to either remain in a positive
(52:51):
place or get themselves to a more positive place. So
I appreciate your words and and just come by. Like
I said it already once. I love you so, thank you, Bob.
I appreciate that. Man. Glad you're here. Any any time
you gonna come over with no microphones, let me know,
because you're probably in town more than I'm near where
you are, and I wanna get like. You have a
fancy place all the woods. You know, you're like the
(53:12):
last time I saw you come out and I was like, right,
if I come out to your place, I'm gonna get lost.
I would be ashamed for you to see my place
after coming here. I'm talking. No, no, I'm serious, man, No, no, no, no,
you're a place I'm just like I would be embarrassed,
like this is really not clean, you just I mean,
(53:32):
this is I've had enough of this. Okay, listen, A
hard working band is out today. It's Billy Ray, Snoop
and the Brothers, and I hope everybody checks it out
streams it like crazy. And when Billy Ray gets back
out on the road and you start doing your shows,
I want everybody just pack it and have that moment
you're talking about. I look forward to celebration that look
forward to that too, And until I see you again,
(53:55):
I will treasure this last hour that we spent together. Amen. Brother,
thank you all so much, you being with you. Thank
you m HM.
Hey, here we are episode three forty with Billy Ray Cyrus.
So he's got a new song out and I'll play
it for you in a second. But we talked about
all of it. His early life, he worked working at
a bar, it burned down, why he went to l A,
why it came to Nashville. I mean, it's a whole story.
Some of it I knew roughly, but I mean I
learned a lot about Billy Ray. And he brought his
guitar and I was feeling bad for a sec because
(00:24):
he was just sitting with it, and then I realized
he wants to play some stuff as he told stories.
Yeah that was cool. Yeah, it was really cool. I
really like Billy Ray. And so he came over to
the house after the interview was over. He was wearing
like this jacket and I saw the brand on it
and I was like, dang, okay very and he's like
and I told him how to say the name of
the brand and he's like, oh, that's how you say.
It was like, well, why do you have that expensive
(00:45):
jacket if you did not say the name of the brand.
He's like, oh no, I gave me that is that.
It was cool, So his daughter gave it to him
and I was like, yeah, I look at that. But
we just had a good time. I mean, Billy Rays
the man, we do talk about it all. It's funny
too about how Achy breaking Heart got its name because
that wasn't the name of the song because he's a
different song. It was called Don't Tell My Heart, But
how Ach You Breaking Heart was called that. He talks
(01:05):
about that. We talked about you know, Snoop Dogg a lot.
But here you go, before we get to the interview,
here is a hard working man, Billy Ray Cyrus, Snoop
Dogg and the Avila Brothers. So you gotta time to
get you. You gotta be made. You see, so new
(01:43):
songs out today. We'll talk about the song, we'll talk
about his life. Here you go, Billy Ray Cyrus. It's
a Bobby cast. It was super cool to do. I
was listening to your song. I guess a couple of
days ago they sent me like the that's not really
a peak was not a sneak peak, but that the
early version of it and it said Billy Ray and
(02:04):
Snoop Dogg and who else on it? The brothers. Yes, yeah,
I was like, well this will be an interesting listen.
I like how like like it's about hard, like how grimy.
It feels like hard working, like that's the texture of it.
Felt like what you were saying in the song. And
so I really thought it was cool. I didn't know
what to expect. How did how in the world did
(02:26):
this collaboration with you three guys come together? It was
pretty special, you know. And and it started with the
fact that I come from the Ohio River Valley and
steel mills, working people, and said they Snoop Dogg wanted
to do a song for the working man. And when
I first heard it, it was a little different connotation
(02:47):
of what it is now. And uh, I said, man,
you don't be cool about this. I love all the
working stuff. And I said, it's having the man. It
is a working man, but without the woman, the man
ain't nothing. We all, oh, if mama ain't happen to
nobody's happy, and we get this has to actually be
a tip of the hat to mama. And also let's
(03:07):
put some positive food in there for the kids. Elbow
Grease Snoop sings about elbow Grease. Well, we all know that,
you know, hard work is is the key to everything.
I mean, I've never had anything in life that was
worth anything that came easy. It always seems like there's
some elbow grease involved. And knowing that if you can
(03:29):
think it, you can be it, you can do it.
What's gonna take some work. And that's what the song
is about. And I think we found a nice balance
of um, you know, putting that the food in there,
tipping the hat to all the people, men and women
that make this world go around. It's a hard working
you know, hard work of man, hard working woman, and
keep mama happy. Whenever they because you say you were
(03:53):
approached to be in the song, is that I'm getting
my order right right? Like they came to you and said, hey,
we have the song. This is kind of what the
idea is. So do you have a lot of uh
input on the creative of Okay, I'm gonna be in this,
but this is my vision as well? And do they
is it kind of molded so all of you have
your own voice in there. They came to me with
UM and this was before Snoop was in UM. It
(04:14):
was just a title and a little bit of a
hard working man that was really leaning a little bit
more towards um like a physical like labor, like physical labor,
talking about that sexual Oh that kind of hard working man.
Got it. Yeah, it was a little it was kind
of going that direction. I said, hey, you know what,
I really liked this idea, but let's really let's let's
(04:35):
make it something more than that. Let's let's really and
and again. This this started over a year ago and
it was the title and just this thought of a
workingman's song. And it's a little bit of kind of
what you said, kind of that little It was basically
some drums and some banging and clanging of like um,
(04:55):
I felt like work was being done, Work was being done,
and the songle wow, man put some positive food in
here for the kids and the people that have a dream.
Let's put make this song about something this moment. And
we all know that the frontline workers, the truck drivers,
the steel meals, that's that's what makes America go round.
And we're all going through this list. So that was
(05:17):
over a year and a couple of months ago when
i'm I came up with a bit of the you
gotta go back to what Mama said. Mama said, it's
gonna take some elbow grease and Mama. It's the whole
world revolves around mama. Speaking of mama, your wedding ring.
Is that tattoo so you don't so you don't have
to remember to wear one? Or is it a hang
(05:38):
on your guitar? Like? What's the The practical reason is
that it does get Uh, it's hard to wear any jewelry, though,
I will strap it on. When you see the video,
he said, got quite a bit of bling on. I'm thinking,
what man, I'm doing this with snoop. But I started
finding anything shining. I started wearing it like I'm I'm
pretty sure hanging forks on your neck, anything that would
(05:58):
have any reflection at all, you put it on. Put
it on. You'll sit in a video when you did
how long I go? Did you do the ring on
your finger? Long time ago? And was that your idea
or your wife's idea? I really don't remember. But I
like it because I always like I take it off,
I fiddle with it, and then I have a formal
(06:19):
ring as well, because this is a piece of rubber
and I always leave it behind. And if I just
get the tattoo like that looks real cool, I don't
look as cool as you. So what my vibe? I know,
I like, I'm a big nerd like it fits your
vibe and you know, but I like that well. It
really bothered me when I played to have a ring on,
especially on his hand, and it was always getting caught
(06:40):
on the strings. And yes, it worked out pretty good.
Are you still playing a lot of shows? Gosh, she's
been so long. I played a couple. I would call
it a couple shows. Like most everything I've had over
the last two years, UM were either canceled or moved
because COVID, And it really hurt because my goal was
(07:02):
after coming out of twenty nineteen, I was going to
spend all of just celebrating the fans and still being
here all these years later, and obviously Old Town Road
and the youth of the music. The shows were so
cool up to that point. We were getting booked for
a lot of huge festivals and great crowds, and then
like everybody, UM pretty much. You know, I came out
(07:24):
of the Grammys of and fortunately they handed me a couple,
But the next thing I know, they shut the lights off,
and it's been like a pretty dark couple of years.
Are you still in shape to perform, meaning I did
some stand up at an hour stand up at an
event a few weeks ago. And it wasn't that I
(07:45):
remember my jokes and it wasn't that my timing wasn't
all there, but I just hadn't done it a lot
in my voice wasn't quite just I wasn't in shape
to do an hour of stand up. And when you
hop back on the stage, are you is good to go?
Or is it stamon? You have to build up. I
really haven't done a real show of those. Yeah, Um,
(08:08):
it's been you know, I'm I'm looking forward to it.
We've got one coming up and it's probably gonna be
that because I am much better to be in shape
vocally though. I've been doing a lot of singing, do
a lot of writing. I wrote a couple of albums
during this and stuff that's really even this song, Uh,
hard working man, you know, it's all part of for me,
(08:29):
the therapy of leaning into the music. It was all
the light that I could find and faith that this
thing is there's gonna be a better day. I just
gotta make it through this storm. And like everybody, it's
been a hell of a storm. I'm curious I'm gonna
ask you in just second about your like your Nashville,
your genesis story of you coming to town. You have
your guitar with you right now always because you're left handed.
(08:51):
Where's yours? I have actually have one of yours that
I keep in a very special place that I'm so
afraid to play it because it's a John Lennon and
you wrote a little note on the back of it,
and I just I'm just like, if if I play it,
I'm not great and I I won't break it or I'm
gonna scratch it, and that this is Billy ray cires
(09:12):
a guitar. So I played it like twice and then
it sits for people to look at other than that. Well,
I see, I had this vision. I'm just playing. Oh yeah,
I want that. I don't ever get to play with
another lefty. But you don't thought, Okay, that's gonna be
great handed. Can I see your guitar? Yeah, sure, it's
even into I want to pick now good and I'm
just gonna play. But I'm gonna dumb. My songs are
(09:35):
so I'm playing. Okay, there you go, seek Pope comes
in handy you ape with there. So when I write songs.
There are songs about my life, but in a different way.
You know. Whenever I was growing up as a kid,
I was like, man, when I get a job, I'm
get a uniform, I'm gonna get girls because I never
got girls. And I'm assuming a lot of the music
(09:56):
that you did was early on to fill your creative cup,
but also have girls like you. Right, It seemed kind
of great part of it being in a band. But
every you know, everybody wants to be the Beatles when
you start a band. I started working a hobby lobby
for the same reason so girls would like me. And
I know you're laughing because you think hobby lobby no girls,
and you'd be correct, Billy, there are no girls that
(10:17):
like a guy at hobby lobby. Then they gave me
my name tag and it said hobby Lobby Bobby. Wow.
And then it was my name is hobby Lobby Bobby.
If you like arts and crafts, just call me. I
can see. So. So that's also that this is not
(10:38):
for me. No one wants to hear me sing. You
kind of wrote a hard working man, only the hobby
lobby version. All right, here we go. I'll give you
one one verse of question and you do a verse
of chorus. We'll do a guitar pulled back and forth. Okay,
here we go. Let me try this one. This is
another little song. There was an accident. It happened, and
we'll do it. Are we go? I needed food formal laborador,
(11:03):
so I went down to my favorite store. I didn't
think about the close I wore, but I learned a
hard lesson, that's for sure. I want two, three, four.
Don't go shopping at Target with khaki pants and a
red shirt on. Don't go shopping in to see a
little comedy song. The Offree laughs. They're like, yeah, that's
(11:27):
so funny. Yeah, this awesome turn. Versus versus. You don't
need them. Yes, you don't need to hear anything. But
I had a hobby lobby job and it was in
You didn't work at hobby lobby, well, it was closed
pursuing my in the early years. You want to hear
a bit of the adventure my first four years. You
(11:48):
first Billy, yeah, and then I want to know all
about it. I'm let you put the guitar down for
a second, give me like a verse and of course
something good. Who's a man and devised the plan to
keep our farms alive. When the news said this country's did,
his music said survived when Nurse water Gate and World
(12:10):
eight the rest seems kind of silly. Don't y'all think
it's time to stop picking on Willie? I wrote that
in the late eighties, I was playing a place up
in West Virginia and Willie was going through some stuff,
and I wrote, to stop picking on Willie. So let's
(12:32):
go back to you knowing that Nashville was where you
needed to be to do what you wanted to do creatively.
When did you know that you were going to do
country music in Nashville, Tennessee. Well, my first trip came
by a couple of demos and Picture two and thinking, man,
(12:55):
that's it. I'm ready. My goal was to be a
singer songwriter and that God would give me the wisdom
envision to use my music to represent His light and
his love in this world. All I need to record
Deal eighty one became eighty two, two, three, three four,
And during the eighty four the bar I was planning,
uh Ironton, Ohio burnt to the ground and I saw
(13:17):
it on the news, and I went over there and
everything had melted. And I'm going through with a flashlight
and the waters dripping off the ceiling in in places
mouth at the drum, everything's gone. But this little bible
that I had found in the floor had parted into
the middle from the heat. And I shot my flashlight
on it, and I said, with every adversity lost the
(13:39):
seed to something better. And I stood there and in
the darkness, man, this is God telling you. Every time
you go to Nashville, they say your rock and roll,
You're You're not country enough, your rock and roll. So
I said, this is God telling you. You need to
move to l A. You love rock and roll, and
so um. Next couple of weeks I left out of
(14:02):
Ohio and I moved to l A. And UM got
out there and found everybody telling me I was to country,
and certainly with my name didn't help at all. Billy
ray On, Billy ray you you got a mullet, you
wear a cowboy hat, and your you look you you
look in sound country. Surely your country. I said, no,
I love rock and roll. But unfortunately I didn't get
(14:25):
any jobs or a record deal and appoint me in.
Out of desperation, I got a job at Baby toy
Town and baby toy Town is very, very similar to
hobby lobby. You've been a baby toy town? I don't.
I don't think I've ever heard of baby is. It
is baby toy Town on Vanice Boulevard. It was in
the San Fernando Valley. What do they sell? Baby supplies,
(14:47):
baby beds, baby strollers, baby everything you would need for
a baby. Were you now an expert in all things baby?
And quickly I was a horrible, horrible salesman and a
horrible whatever. I was just terrible aided my job. Oddly enough,
somebody came in and uh, I did sell Pat benatar
Um a baby stroller and some stuff. And that was
(15:08):
as close to the making it as I came. But
through our failures, as Thomas Edison said, every time you fail,
you eliminate that one way that won't work, therefore being
one way closer to the one way that will. And
I failed way more times than I ever succeeded, like
by far way more times of failure, And in some
ways California too, was just an extension of all my
(15:31):
failures in Nashville. But I took what I learned from
l A and a couple of years later in l
a and my darkest moment said Okay, now go back,
go back to Nashville with what you've learned here and
use everything you've learned. And just persistence is to the
quality of the character of man. What carbon is to steal.
Just keep be a jackhammer, pape p. It's not the
(15:55):
force of the jackhammer that breaks the concrete, it's the repetition.
Just keep going, persistence. I kept knocking and UM nineteen
eight nine nine UM nine. In one week, I wrote
three of the songs off the album Some Gay All,
including some Gay Ball. I had met a Vietnam veteran
(16:17):
in Huntington, West Virginia at the little bar I played
that night, and that song happened to be the song
that I played for Harold shed when after ten years
of being told no for the first time, somebody said yes.
And that was the song that made someone go, hey,
I see like a flicker of something in I came
in and uh it was actually I was that was down.
(16:39):
That was gonna be my last try. I said, if
this doesn't work, I better get a job at the railroad.
And I had this song I've written some gay Balls.
The song I should play. And then he said, I'm
gonna structure you a little deal, and Mercury Records started
up process of offered me a record deally. It took
a year or two to make that and the album record.
(17:02):
It actually took two weeks to make the record. In
the summer of two weeks. I was living in my
car parked in the parking lot of the music meal
and we recorded all ten nine tracks during the first
week of June, and I stuck around and saying all
my vocals and did all my harmonies and all my overdubs.
On the second week of June, and then I went
(17:24):
back to my gig in West Virginia and got fired
A big fistbote broke out and and some guns were involved,
and me and the band stopped playing, and the owner said,
if you don't keep playing, you're fired. So I out
of the highest moment of my life came the lowest,
and I found myself in Richmond, Virginia, at a disco
(17:44):
where they just hated us. I mean they hated everything
we did except for when we would play this new
song i'd cut called at the time, it was called
Don't Tell My Heart. And I noticed no matter how
bad they hated us. When I played Don't Tell My Heart,
they packed the dance floor. And and after that I
told Mercury Records said, man, that one song, don't Tell
My Heart. Um, it's a dance song. The even the
(18:08):
boot scooters, they'd get out there and scoot them boots
across the floor. And I said, I think that song
might be called Achy breaky Heart because they ought the
drunks and or whoever always say play at Acy breaking song.
That's how you suggested it. Because the people at the
bar were like play but it was called Don't Tell
My Heart? And um don band trast the Vietnam veteran
who ironically wrote the song, when he came to meet
(18:31):
me at the music meal. Um, I said, hey, uh, sir,
did you ever think about changing the name of that
song to Achy breaking Heart? And he said, I don't
care what you call it. Let's just get it. Get
him to put it out, and uh they did And
did you think? And I have some questions about ak
you breaking on a minute, but some gave all that's
that's what you running my guitar like. And also have
(18:52):
affinity for that song and for the message when you
cut that record, which is Some Gave All that's the
title track. Did you feel like that was going to
be like the song for you that represented who you were? First?
Everything was on the line with some gay Ball because
that was the big test for me and my band.
(19:12):
One of the things I had insisted on was I
wanted to use my band on the session. We played
every night together and we'd worked the songs up very
similar to the Springsteen E Street sound. We just had
a band sound. I said, I really want to use
my band, and Harold Ship said, you know, why don't
we We'll trying for one song, and on January thought,
(19:32):
uh third of They gave us a test at the
meal and we got to cut one song and we
cut Some Gave All and they said, Okay, we love it.
Let's do nine more. And they scheduled the nine for
the June. So that's like, oh man, I gotta live
five six more months. And that's when Don't Tell My
(19:53):
Heart came into my life and I threw off one
of my songs I had written and added that one
just because it felt a special. So you threw off
so last the last song. Basically that was that package.
If some gave all the record was A Break Your
Heart Almost. I added one more that came that I
didn't write, and it was called it Could Have Been Me,
And it was the follow up to a You Break
(20:15):
Your Heart written by Reed Nielsen. And uh, those two
songs I added threw off to the mind. The one
I threw off was called Whiskey, Wine and Beer, and um,
I think I wrote it about the same time I
wrote Stop Picking on Willie. It kind of had. I
was in a kind of in that zone for a moment.
I was writing a bunch of songs in nine like
but um, whenever you break your heart, they come to
(20:39):
you and go, hey, want this to be the first single?
Are you like? I agree? Or are you like? I
don't know. I have these other songs that I feel
very passionate about. I felt like there was a one,
like there was something about it that especially um, just
because when we would play it, you could just feel
the energy and the dance floors would pack and again.
(20:59):
But then I started getting these little jobs at country
clubs were there a lot of bootscoot dancing and that
kind of thing, and and that really wasn't my expertise.
It was more like, either I was playing southern rock
or songs I'd written, or George Jones and Johnny Cash
and like the standards of country and uh. But when
(21:20):
I play a key breaky, they just pack it out
and it just so that was kind of it felt
like a hit. I don't know what a hit feels like,
but it felt like it, you know, when I think
back about you in my childhood. Obviously, ak breaking Up
(21:41):
was a massive song, but my song was where am
I Gonna Live? When I get I mean I loved
and that video on CMT. Do you still play that? Oh? Yeah, yeah.
I did a little bit of right now Where am I? Like?
Where am I gone Live? When I get home? My
(22:02):
own lady throw down everything out? She man walk, she
said when she wished out was dead, So we're my
gone little will not get home. That song to me
is you thank you. And I don't know how you
(22:22):
feel about that, because I feel you have me. I
do feel like me again. And that was during the
month of May of nine. And what had happened was
the gig got playing West Virginia. We'd start on Tuesday
night when we played Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
so five nights a week before sat tonight, and on
(22:44):
a Tuesday night, I stayed out all night up to
the next morning. And I was married to a very
kind lady in Ohio at the time, and I didn't
come home. It was sunrise Wednesday morning, and I probably
wreaked of liquor and um maybe some lipstick on my collar.
I don't know, but it was ugly, and I like
(23:05):
the son's up and my normal neighbors that have real
jobs are going to work, and I'm out in front
of the house in that red truck that's in the video,
and I'm going, where am I gonna live? Where am
I gonna look? Where am I gonna live? When I
get homeless? I wrote it right then. Well then I
go in, everything goes the crap, and but I had
the song. And then that night I went back to
(23:25):
the gig and I was pretty down and depressed and sad,
and I wrote She's not crying Anymore on Wednesday, and
then I didn't write anything on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
And on Sunday I met Sandy Kane and wrote some
gave ball. So during that one week of May, I
wrote three of those songs. In uh nine nine during
that week, all in a week. In a week, it's
(23:47):
almost Dolly esque when she goes, you know, I sat
down for this day and I wrote these two songs.
And you know you're like, well, I know both of
those songs. You wrote them the same day. The fact
that you kind of nailed those three in that time period,
and I feel like, creatively, it almost takes things to
happen to us to kind of, um create emotion and
share emotion. What was happening in your life that had
(24:10):
you feeling these feelings to create this dynamic music you think.
I think it was an excess of alcohol. Um, there
was probably some. I hate to even say there was.
It was a pretty rough time. It was a very
excessive alcohol. When you say excessive, did you know it
(24:31):
was a problem. Are we just partying too hard? I
was actually working. It was like part of my job.
I always had a rule. I said, Okay, I go
play the first set completely straight, straight up. Could you
play straight and feel? Yeah? I felt really good. I
always felt like the first set was like probably my
most correct and then um the second set, like in
between the break, I might um take a little puff
(24:54):
and then UM go up to the second set and
I feel looserd That's probably the best set of the night.
But by the third set I'd have a puff uh
possibly unfortunately, maybe a snort um unfortunately. Like then came
like it was part of people partying with send me
drinks and some of those drinks would be on fire.
(25:16):
Someone would be like double shots of who knows what,
I don't know what it takes the light of drink
up and then blow it out and drink. But I
would do that. It was so about third set with
rocket pretty hard. For set, I was probably legally drunk.
And unfortunately, Um, Keith Whitley was from my neck of
(25:37):
the woods up there in Kentucky, and I was a
huge Keith Whitley fan and um, when he died that
had a big impact on me, like I can't finally
get to this point where my dreams about to come true,
but yet I have some issues. So him him having
his issues and dying, do you feel like it was
(25:59):
kind of a r He saved my life. I mean,
this is no other way to say it. He saved
my life because my manager, Jack McFadden, was Keith Whitley's manager,
and he was he was like a son to Jack,
and Jack at that point I was on his roster,
but he had never seen me play, never heard my music,
didn't know exactly what it was that I did, but
he knew it wasn't exactly straight up country. And Jack
(26:22):
had managed Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and Keith Whitley
and tragically on May to Night and again this is
nine Um May to Night. Um. Jack was gonna take
me to Sony Records for the first time. Jack was
gonna take me anywhere. And again, I don't think he'd
even heard any of my songs, but we had an appointment.
(26:44):
So I came down on the eighth. Tragically, Keith Whitley
UH passed away on the morning of the ninth, and
UH the meeting was canceled, obviously, and I drove back
home to Huntington, West Virginia, and UH played on No
Ranger to the Rain over and over and over and
over and over. I better played a hundred times between
here and Huntington's and it just had a huge impact
(27:09):
on me. And UH, luckily and m nineteen and ninety one,
when I realized that, hey, Cyrus, You're about to get
your chance. This this you've got the album that everybody
seems to really believe something that well, they told me,
he said, Man, hang in there, this is about to happen.
(27:30):
And I stopped at a bridge down here on the
harpor somewhere and through all my stuff into the river,
and I said, I can't do this and and not
be my very best stuff. Worked your stuff do you mean?
Do you mean your actual stuff for drugs? Cocaine? I
(27:53):
pulled over and threw my damn cocaine out. Would you
have considered yourself an addict or someone who and I
come from a massive family of addictions. So were you
an addict? Or are you someone who just enjoyed it
but could also if you needed to stop stop? I
don't think I could stop stop, especially on alcohol, because
I drank since I was a kid, and I ain't
(28:15):
had a beer sense like I mean that I had
to stop everything. Except I did say, you know what,
having a little puff every now and then, if marijuana
helps me, it's medicine to me. And uh so I
kind of allowed myself to say, Okay, if you get
rid of these two devil alcohol in the cocaine, you
can keep a little bit of the marijuana because that's
(28:37):
kind of your medicine and um and you never look back. No. Wow.
The fact that you stopped, drew a line and stood
at that line says a lot about who you are
deep down, like you, and I think it showed itself
over and over again with the things you're able to achieve.
(28:57):
Like you, here's the line, this is my goal, this
is when going to achieve and I'm not going to
cross this. And that was a massive step to me.
I guess I'm surprised in a way, not at you,
but when you hit so hard and you're on and
you are a superstar. Now that when you have all
every resource, everything is available to you again, available more
than it's ever been to you, by the way you
(29:18):
have money, you have, fame, you have you. Still I
didn't get back into it, that run from it. That
is amazing. I can't. I don't want it around me
and I don't need won't be a tempted by it
because it never goes away sometimes, I joked. I joked
with my little girl Know a couple of weeks ago,
came to see me. She said, where are you at? Dad?
(29:39):
I sit down on the banks of the harp with
what are you doing, I said, looking for my cocaine.
I thought the way of not anyone. She laughed, Really,
I know it's a horrible joke, but she thought it was.
She knew the story and so being able to joke
about it a little bit. But um, I never knew
anybody that anything could come out of cocaine. I don't
know I've I've ever had a drink because I'm so
(30:01):
scared of it. My mom was an addict and she
died in her forties. I never knew my dad because
he was an addict, and so I just I'm an
addict to a lot of things. But I've purposefully kept
myself off of drugs and alcohol because I know I will.
I know I love it. I know that I will
embrace it and it will be over for me before
(30:22):
it starts. And so I made that decision like I
drew that line, and it's difficult. But to experience it
like you did and then to stop, I think that's
even harder to do, and to never look back at
it like that is inspiration for a lot of people
that are listening to this right now. I appreciate you
sharing the story. I haven't talked about it very much. Um,
when I think back, ever, I don't know that I've
ever been in this moment to just say, but I
(30:45):
think like we're all in a moment of purpose right now.
I'm trying to find my purpose in this moment coming
out of these last couple of years. Same. Wait, this
can't be an accident that you survived COVID twice and
that the whole world changed and somehow you just somehow
you made it through it. So God kept you here
and you found this song, and I wrote this thing
(31:09):
with Snoop and the brothers, and it kind of came
for this moment of tipping your hat to the working
men and women of the country and around the world
and giving kids food for thought of how to reach
their dreams. Again. When I bought a guitar and started
a band, I prayed God would give me the wisdom
and vision to use the music to fulfill my purpose
(31:29):
and the life. So to be in this moment now
and to be honest with you, I think that's kind
of going full circle of kind of what I need
to do as a dad, you know, And you're talking
now about you know, what you want to leave for
people here now? And for fut generations and the message
(31:50):
that you want to, you know, spread. Did you feel
like that with your kids when they were like, you're
a dad and now it's your goal to make sure
that they grow up and know this about society and
how hard it is they after work? Was that important
to you really? I always said, watch what I do
and don't do that. That's a joke, No, I think again, no, No.
(32:11):
I would say that to him though, and then I'd say, well,
here's the deal, you know, if they really ask me.
Somebody said, man, there's a key to life. I just
know that there are no accidents, no coincidences. Everything that
you be, have or do in this world starts with
the thought that you have in your mind. Every thought
you have is a seat and it's up to you
(32:34):
to take that seat and nurture it to where you
want it to grow and what you want to do
with your life. Knowing that it's all about purpose. It's
not an accident that we're here in this moment, and um,
you know most of all, just you know, saying that
you know, keep on keeping on and believe and know
that be a jackhammer. That's kind of the the running
(32:56):
thing with my kids, they'll say to each other, be
a jackhammer, and I always know that they're talking about
persistence whenever you were young, teenage years because just you know,
being a kid and watching you were just ripped like
muscles on muscles, tank top muscles and muscles like you
had to be some sort of athlete, crazy athletes. Honestly,
(33:19):
Noah showed me a couple of weeks ago, this thing
of thirty years ago. I made my first appearance at
the Grammys and lost five. Few people can go from
nothing to losing five Grammys and onnot. But I was
very I don't, I don't. I was very grateful that
moment I knew I wasn't gonna win one, so I
wore a T shirt that I cut the sleeves out
of it said John three sixteen. It's floating around out
(33:40):
somewhere that I see the picture in my head right now,
and it's embarrassing to say, but oddly, yeah, I did
look more like a linebacker than and and um um.
But the point was seeing I was gonna be a
professional baseball player up until I was twenty years old,
nineteen twenty years old, and um as as things started happening,
(34:02):
oddly enough, this jacket and you'll see if I turn
around in this video with Snoop, I took a silver sharpie.
I wear a leather jacket. But I'm in this full
circle moment. And Noah had said to me, and she
showed me that video, Damn, look at you John three sixteen.
And I wore the shirt because I knew I wasn't
gonna win a Grammy. But I wanted to say thank
you God for allowing me to persist and pursue this
(34:26):
dream and not give up because I'm here now, and
I wanted to say thanks, knowing I wouldn't win, and
get the stand up and say thank you God for
this moment. So I was that shirt as that reason,
and UM, Noah said, well you can do It's thirty
years later. And so I took a silver sharpie and
I wrote John three sixteen on the back of my
leather jacket. I didn't wear it in here, but it's
(34:48):
in the video. I'm gonna wear it this weekend in Vegas.
And UM, I think there's a lot to that, knowing
that UM, somewhere along the line, you know you you
just gotta remember, um, what this journey is all about
I saw a clip the Snoop had posted on his Instagram.
I'm trying to think of where I saw it. But
you were in the was it behind the scenes stuff
(35:09):
when you guys are making this song? There was a couple, Yeah,
possibly what did it? Which one did he do? Well?
To me? I remember being surprised that you were together
because so many collaborations now, I would say most are
done where somebody cuts it here that you send over
the stems and try you do. But you guys were
together in the video and where was that? Was it?
(35:30):
It was that this truck stop um over on Interstate
forty um off of I guess close to Old Hickory
where forty hits on Kingston Springs sort of there in
a big truck by the old prison and there's a
massive truck stop there and man, he went full on video.
I couldn't believe him. Um it felt really good. It
was this past Sunday morning, at nine o'clock in the
(35:54):
morning on a Sunday, and you get the message that
Snoop wants to see in the back of the bus
and I was like, oh man, I'm already for this video.
Rested up and who can say no to that. So
I go out and go start making my way back
through Snoop's bus somewhere along the way, like thinking, man,
I'm learning go like they start getting little foggy and
(36:18):
and uh. And so we talked a little bit and
I stood there and that we got off the bus
and we just started rocking. I mean, we started rocking
and it felt good. And there I was at ten
o'clock in the morning, man up on top of a
semi truck and Snoop was we started singing this song
with was saying everything in this business, everybody's borrowing something
(36:38):
from Chuck Berry. And we I started doing this thing
on the guitar and I'm like, Snoop started beating the
truck and he's saying, Oh, tell them the tip your
hat to Chuck. So we wrote a kind of a
song up on top of the truck about Chuck Berry.
So you wrote a song. We wrote a song on
(36:59):
top of the truck called uh kind of a tip
your hat to Chuck, very sort of thing. And then
we climbed down off. I remember one of the little
clips was like here it comes to if he said, hey, man,
I got this show. I got this show. It's called
Who's Holding the Blood? And I don't know if he's
posted that one yet, but it was this brown log
looking thing and uh, and then naturally everything is a
(37:21):
song Amazon next thing, I couldn't stop thinking, who's holding blood?
Who's holding the blood? That dog go hunt Who's holding
the blood. So when it's hard to tell him what,
Mike is gonna pop up with me and Snoop. But um,
it was a special that I can't wait for the
video to come out. The song comes out April one,
(37:41):
you know it for me? Which is today, right, Mike? Today?
When when this comes out on April one, it will
be April one today. The song comes out today, song
comes out today, And I'm so excited today after all this,
And it has been a year in two months since
I was first approached with the idea of a hard
(38:03):
working man and a song was Snoop Dogg. And usually
if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
But something about this really stuck with me. I just
couldn't let go. And I said, well, I'm gonna do it.
Let's let's write the song really good and making us
something special. And then Snoop came in and wrote his
rap that I mean, man, it's all about the dream.
(38:24):
I love what Snoop added to it and long beholded
it again, persistence and not giving up. There was a
lot of times I looked at this said, I guess
the that track about the hard working man, it just
fell away or whatever, but it found its way home
and now here we are and it's coming out today,
and it's today like a I watch you play, and
(38:47):
it's odd because I don't get to watch other people
like me they're left handed. You know, if I go
somewhere and they're passing around a guitar and they're like,
I never get to play because I'm left handed. There's
never a has being left handed plagued your life in
a way musically? Always, For the first twenty years of
my life, I thought I couldn't play because I was
only surrounded by right handed guitars. So if I ever
(39:08):
picked anybody's up, and I'd actually keep my dad's guitar
and study these guitar books, and no matter what, it
just never would make sense in my head. And I
just said, came to the clarity that I was meant
to be a baseball player, that I couldn't play guitar.
Did you throw left handed through right handed? Wow? Weird
right hand? But yeah? And I kicked left footed, but
(39:31):
I right left handed. I brush my teeth with my
left hand. But you do all that left hand, but
you throw right handed. I never heard of such thing.
I pretty mixed up. You right left handed, but you
throw right handed. I've heard of people kicking opposite footage
in their hand, but can you can you throw both handed? No,
not at all. That is bizarre. I know it was crazy,
(39:51):
and that's why I like when this boy starts telling me,
by guitars, start a band, you'll find your purpose in life.
And I'm gonna know my purpose. I'm gonna beat Johnny Bench,
I'll be a your for Cincinnati Reds and uh, by
a guitar and started band, You'll find your purpose in life.
I'm going. And finally I broke down after I'd won
these tickets to see Neil Diamond and he had this
inspirational show, and I'm going. I pulled my truck over
(40:13):
on the side of the road and I said crowded
to the stars and said, God, but I can't play guitar.
And the voice called back and said by left handed guitar.
And the next day I found one down in Portsmouth, Ohio.
And as soon as I held it in the store,
everything that I've been studying right handed, it all of
a sudden made sense. Holding the right guitar left handed.
I guess my brain was just wired that way. It
(40:36):
feels like thor in the hammer. Like a lot of
people try like you. You tried all the other guitars,
but finally the right one. It was like you have
all the power. But that's what it feels like right there.
I headed upside down and backwards, and they're so different
in the right hand and the left handed guitar, and
and they just had this one. And soon I started
a band that night and we just started playing and yeah, yeah,
(40:59):
And was how many of those guys hung around your
life for a bit? Did they move around with you
at all? I lost a lot of them. Um when
the bar burnt down in and Ironton, Ohio, and I
moved to l A. But my brother was in the band,
my brother Keebo, and he's still up in Kentucky. He's
an excellent guitar player, and to me, he'll always be
(41:21):
in the band. He's part of what we started. So
you have this song with snoop Um. When Oldtown Road
came out. You know, that was for some people, weird
for me because I was such a fan growing up.
Some people was the introduction, Like for young kids, that's
(41:42):
the first time they've ever seen you and you're on
this massive song. How did that call come to you, going, hey,
we need you to get here. We're gonna do this
new version of Oldtown Road? Now? Who called you UM
on Oldtown Road? It was Um. Little Noz put out
the first a p B on Billy Ray sire us
Um way before the song even charted at all. I
(42:03):
think he put up a little TikTok or something and
and said, can anybody get this song to Billy Ray Cyrus.
That's how you first heard about it, but I didn't
hear about it. Then it took a couple more months
and and the song was rising. Columbia came and signed
a Little Nose and somewhere during uh right about the
same time rem March the tenth or eleventh that um,
(42:28):
Columbia sent me the song and said would you sing
this um and maybe write a verse for it? And
I listened to it one time and I just fell
in love with I said, this guy don't need an
extra verse and he doesn't need my voice on it.
But I love this song. And they said when can
you do it? And I said today and they said, oh,
(42:50):
it's a it's how about Saturday tomorrow? I said, asked
book it and it was in l A and went
to Sunset Studio. I wrote my verse the edge and
sang mom thang and did the whistle? That was that?
That it was? They said I was done, and they said,
is there anything I should think? I said, have you
ever thought about? Uh? Maybe? I said, listen, this is um.
(43:13):
They're just and they're like, oh, man, little note to
do it? Do it all the way through it. Man.
So I whistled, do the song on the long Maho.
Now I'm the whistler for little nos bts on the
whistler for snoop. There's a there's a whistle in our tune. UM.
Never dreamed anybody would give a crap about my whistle. There, whistler,
(43:39):
I think you had worshop. I think we both had
worob The whistler actually actually whistled while I worked at
Baby Toy Town. Whenever you look at your career like
from uh ten thousand feet up, like you've been able
to consistently come back and be successful in all these
different areas music and then television when you know you
(44:01):
did the show with Miley music again, you keep reinventing
how you do music like your girl Like, what in
the world who are you having these conversations with it?
It's like, all right, Billy, right, that's what you need
to do now. M Honestly, Dolly, first and foremost, get
into acting. Don't be dependent on radio for a career.
(44:24):
She said that to you, Chris Christofferson, um White and
Jenny and most importantly, my dad said, look at Kenny Rodgers,
like I have one of those kind of careers. I said, Dad,
how do you? I'd love to, but how do you
do that? He said, you got to get into acting.
And I said, you know, I ain't even been in
(44:46):
a church play. I can't act. He said, I'm sure.
It's just like everything else, you just gotta start. And
that is that such good advice. It is good advice.
No matter what you're gonna do in life, you ain't
never gonna get it done if you don't start. And
so started, and luckily I got hired but uh, David
Lynch from malland Drive, and that led to doc and
(45:09):
then pretty soon unfortunately, yet fortunately, I found myself living
as an actor. But I'm really just a singer songwriter
from Flatwoods, Kentucky, and I was much more comfortable just
being a musician. In some ways, I'm glad I did
what I did, but it it took away maybe some
of my best years as a singer songwriter. But I
don't know that I would ever wrote. I might not
(45:30):
even be here without that those moments, so I can't
second guess it. But that's why I looked so forward
to this moment. I hope the world opens back up
and we get to play these shows that we have
booked and that more are coming because I to me, mahi,
what I really realized from the time I bought a
guitar and started a band. My high is the celebration
(45:53):
of music with the fans and the band and the
song all coming together other at one moment when everyone
can be in unison and harmony. That's as high as
I get, and I love it. That's That's what I
want to do with the rest of my life, is
just play some shows people come together, sing, dance, live, love, laugh,
(46:17):
And if there is any food for thought, if there's
someone that looks at my life and says, you don't
what if he can do it, I can do it.
If he can reach his dreams, I can reach my dreams.
And then maybe some kid might say, what was that
he said about be a jackhammer? Yeah, jackhammer? Keep on
keeping on. I actually, during the pandemic, wrote a song
called keep on Keeping On Like it's it's the philosophy,
(46:39):
you gotta do it. Yeah. I appreciate your dad's words,
and I think it's been said a few different ways,
but I like that you like, you just have to start.
You just have to Your dad though, if I'm correct,
was he a millworker. He was. He was a steel
worker of it, armcoat steel. And so that had to
have an impact on YouTube because my step dad worked
(47:00):
at a sawmill and I would see him come home,
and you know, my mom didn't remarr until I was
twelve or thirteen, but had no stability until him at all.
But he would come home. He would work so hard,
but he hated his job and he and he would
always say to me, I said, I hate this job.
You need to find something you love to do, because
(47:21):
at least you'll love doing it. Like, find something you love.
Don't be like me, don't work in the mill all
day to just get a paycheck. Did your dad pass
along any of that to you or do he like
his mill job. My dad was a people's man, and
once at the steel mill, he saw a man uh
lucy's legs from a falling crane, and unfortunately the company
(47:44):
um wasn't doing right by his family, and my dad
ended up uh leaving his job and putting himself through
college and became a state representative in Kentucky and became
in the head of the a f l c O
in State of Kentucky, working for working men and women's rights.
(48:05):
So he did it and then stood for the people
that also did it. That's another thing that turned me
on so much about hard working man. I said, you
know what, in a way, I feel a bit of
my dad's spirit in this song. I was raised knowing
that it's the hard working men and women of this
country that make those mills go, that make the trains run,
(48:25):
that drive the trucks. And you know, it's kind of
a philosophy, and there's another side of the steel mill
that I knew a little bit about steel. And then
somewhere when I bought a guitar and started a band,
I said, I gotta harness everything in my mind to
make this happen. I started studying, and somewhere I read
that persistence is to the quality of the character of man,
(48:48):
what carbon is to steal. And I knew that without
carbon and steel, steel was just plastic or rubber. That
made sense to me. Persistence. Everybody I'm studying keeps coming
back to be a jackhammer, keep on keeping on. Persistence.
It's not a very glorified word, but man's is important. Okay,
(49:10):
So today the song is out hard working man, Billy
Ray Cyrus is here with us. This is read read
runs all the video, all the fancy equipment. He always
asked one question, read what do you have for Billy Ray? Well,
I was going to ask about your song. It could
have been me if that was like, like involved a
true story or not, but you kind of answered that. Um,
(49:31):
But is there any kind of memory from either playing
a show or recording or anything that kind of sticks
out to you, is like one of your fondest memories.
I think maybe that moment at the Grammys and knowing
that the dream was in front of me now to
be as a good idea is only as good as
its execution. It has to do with me stopping all
(49:53):
the bad things and harnessing the good and leaning into
the music during that time, and most of all because
at that moment this would be the quintessential moment when
Johnny Cash wrote me a letter that said, recently saw
you giving credit to God for all your success. Always
remember that all things that are good come from oh
(50:13):
My to God above um. You remind me of my
friend Elvis Presley in your case, as in, he is
the good outweighs the bad. Let him have it. I'm
in your corner, loved Johnny Cash. And that was a
moment to me. It was during the storm of acy
(50:34):
breaky was as hot as it could get, and and
it was Johnny Cash wrote me that letter, and I said,
you know, if Johnny Cash says it's okay, then that
and then it's okay. Just do what he said, give
the glory to God. And what long after that I
wore that John three six short at the Grammy's and
realized that, you know, that's so never take up for granted,
(50:55):
knowing that all things that are good come from all
money got above. And I could have been me question too,
because I will tell you at that time both with
thank you breaking article man, this song is special, and
I thought I had the the other nine songs I
would need, and then I heard that, read Nielson doing
uh uh like his voice. Um, he just got married.
(51:22):
I took a month long honey moon, and you all
smiled at the wedding. You crowed when you kissed the ground.
I got no invitation. I guess the malman didn't bring
it to me. But I see the whole thing in
(51:44):
slow motion, even that that try to sleep my butter.
John said you look pretty pretty, and you acted like
you were in love. He said. The preacher ask for objections,
and he thought about standing. And when I heard that,
(52:07):
I thought, man, I gotta do that song. And uh
so I threw off to the mine and added aki
breaking and could have been made end up doing another
read Nelson on the second album which I became a hit. Um,
it was called I Know the Words by heart? Do
you ever hear? That's all? And that was written to me.
That was the follow up of it. Could have been
(52:28):
me was I know the words by heart and read Nielson.
Well you know I love you well, thank you, I
love you. Love having you around. Anytime I get to
see it's always a treat for me. You're just the
best you, and I appreciate your vulnerability. I think people
hear you and go, Man, that's somebody who says things
I need to hear. I think you did that here.
I think there's a lot of people that take your
message and use it to either remain in a positive
(52:51):
place or get themselves to a more positive place. So
I appreciate your words and and just come by. Like
I said it already once. I love you so, thank you, Bob.
I appreciate that. Man. Glad you're here. Any any time
you gonna come over with no microphones, let me know,
because you're probably in town more than I'm near where
you are, and I wanna get like. You have a
fancy place all the woods. You know, you're like the
(53:12):
last time I saw you come out and I was like, right,
if I come out to your place, I'm gonna get lost.
I would be ashamed for you to see my place
after coming here. I'm talking. No, no, I'm serious, man, No, no, no, no,
you're a place I'm just like I would be embarrassed,
like this is really not clean, you just I mean,
(53:32):
this is I've had enough of this. Okay, listen, A
hard working band is out today. It's Billy Ray, Snoop
and the Brothers, and I hope everybody checks it out
streams it like crazy. And when Billy Ray gets back
out on the road and you start doing your shows,
I want everybody just pack it and have that moment
you're talking about. I look forward to celebration that look
forward to that too, And until I see you again,
(53:55):
I will treasure this last hour that we spent together. Amen. Brother,
thank you all so much, you being with you. Thank
you m HM.
Host
Bobby Bones
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