Billy Ray Cyrus is busier than ever, but the country star couldn’t be happier. Not only is he working on his new album Back to Tennessee and filming Hannah Montana: The Movie, the daddy of teen super-star Miley Cyrus is also prepping to host NBC’s Nashville Star. We caught up with the elder Cyrus to find out more.
HW: Do you wish you’d had the opportunity like Nashville Star when you were trying to get into the business?
BRC: Oh my goodness, what I wouldn’t give. I could look 15 years younger. I’ve been around. I had to go down a lot of unpaved highways. I had to learn through some mistakes that I would make. As you know, Thomas Edison said, “The most important ingredient for success is failure.” Every time you fail, you eliminate one way that won’t work and therefore being one way closer to the one that will.”
HW: What’s the appeal of being the host rather than a judge?
BRC: Well I – you know I’m not one to judge anybody…I’ve been to the fair and I’ve seen the bear… I’ve walked these streets and knocked on the doors of Nashville, you know, for well over 15 years before that first album, Some Gave All, you know. I will be a good mentor to these young people and anything that they want to ask me, in good faith I’ll give them the best answer I can you know possibly think of that is the truth.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: This show is so much about mentoring, who is the pivotal person who helped you early in your career?
BRC: During the height of the storm [of “Achy Breaky Heart”], Johnny Cash had (sent) a letter over to my manager’s office and it was handwritten from his desk with his letterhead and his writing, and he said some very kind things. And he ended it with, you know, “Always remember to give thanks to Almighty God, for all things that are good come from him.” He said, “Let him have it. I’m in your corner.” And those words – I’ll tell you to this day, I look back at that as that was a pivotal – that was a big moment for me…When Bruce Springsteen was quoted as saying, “Hey everybody, get off his back. It’s just a damn good little rock and roll song.” That was big stuff for me, you know. I needed to hear that from the people whom I had admired and loved the most and Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen were two of them.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Are you trying to model yourself as a host after anyone? Is there anyone you like as a TV host right now?
BRC: Well you know I ain’t trying to model myself off nobody because it would be in vain if I did…do you know the difference in an artist and an act?
HW: No, tell me …
BRC: Okay, an act is someone who says, “Tell me what you want me to be and I’ll be it.” An artist is someone who says, “This is what I am, I hope you like it.” Well I’ve tried to represent that my entire career; that’s what I’ve always tried to be about. It’s about the music. It’s about being real. If it flies, it flies. If it don’t, at least I’ll go out being myself.
HW: How do you think you’ll compare to Ryan Seacrest?
BRC: Oh, man. We’re two different animals, man. He’s a great human being. He’s a fantastic host, you know. I mean there’s no doubt he’s doing what he was born to do. He’s amazing at it. That show wouldn’t be knocking down the incredible numbers that they’re knocking down without the fact that he was right there in the seat of that thing, you know, from the foundation doing a great job. He’s a great host.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Some of the winners have faded off the map. Why do you think that is?
BRC: I can’t speak a whole lot to the past; I can only speak to the present and the future…It’s about the total package of an artist – a singer, a songwriter, and entertainer, and the intangible. How much are you willing to grow, how much are you willing to listen to these judges and take the steps forward, you know.
HW: What are the chances that Miley will go into country music?
BRC: Hey, you know what, whether she’s thought about it or not, she is and can’t deny it.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Is it true you are filming a movie right now too?
BRC: I am neck deep in Hannah Montana. Not only that, I’m finishing my new album. My new album is appropriately titled, Back to Tennessee. It’s a song I wrote with hit singer/songwriter Matthew Wilder.
HW: Will the song be in the film, too?
BRC: Yeah as a matter of fact, I do perform it in the film. I perform that song in the movie…I’ve definitely got a full plate right now and the good news is I’m really excited about all these things coming together while they are. It’s an intangible of momentum and momentum is always that thing that either you’ve got it or you don’t. And for right now, it’s kind of in my corner so I want to, you know, get the music out, and get this film done, and do all of these things to the very best of my ability.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Is there anybody that you would love to work with but just haven’t had the opportunity to yet?
BRC: I had the honor recently of recording this Sheryl Crow tune that, you know, she kind of had a pretty cool hands on approach with the song and written a real cool song. Sometimes you’ve just got to make music for the fun of it. She had written a really fun song called “Real Gone” and I got to go in there with a great band and just rock and roll and have some fun.
HW: You do have so much going on between hosting, acting, your own music, managing the biggest act in the world right now, and your own family. How do you balance it all?
BRC: Yeah, I’d like to have a real slick answer and say, “Oh, I do this and I do that and I do this,” but I’m going to be honest with you because we ain’t neither one got time to bull crap each other. It ain’t balanced. It’s out of balance. It’s like you know man I am just going just as hard as an old man can go, and quite frankly, I’m loving every second of it![PAGEBREAK]
HW: Do you find any time to relax?
BRC: Oh my goodness that may have something to do with why I look 100…It’s the journey that makes life exciting. And I’m on an incredible journey right now and I just, you know, pray that God will give me the wisdom and the vision and the ability to be everything and all that I’m supposed to be at this special time period of my life.
HW: It sounds like your motor is always going. When do you sleep?
BRC: I’ve already got it penciled in, in April of 2009, I’m going to lay down and sleep.
