Billy Ray Cyrus Wanted to Tip His Hat to His Musical Influences on ‘Thin Line’

Billy Ray Cyrus tells Sounds Like Nashville that he had to change his game plan a bit for his upcoming album, Thin Line.

“The album was originally titled Under The Influence,” he says of the disc, which will be released September 9. “Then I found out there were about ten other albums with that title,” he says with a laugh. The disc is a mixture of new songs and his interpretation of several classics, such as “Tulsa Time” and “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.” Covering the classics was special for Cyrus. “It was a tip of the hat to the artists that influenced me the most in my life.”

One of the tracks is a remake of Waylon Jennings’ 1978 classic “I’ve Always Been Crazy.” While one might not have pegged the feisty “Outlaw” and the young superstar as friends when Cyrus launched his career, the two actually were quite close. In fact, the idea to record the song came from none other than Jennings himself.

“Waylon sat with me at my table in Thompson Station, and he said he had a vision that I cut ‘I’ve Always Been Crazy.’ I told him that was one of my favorites. Little did I know that time would evolve, and he would pass on.” Fourteen years after his passing, enter into the picture Shooter Jennings, who Cyrus was collaborating with. “We went into the studio, and already had a ballad. We needed something up-tempo, and I told him about my conversation with his father, and he said ‘Let’s do it.”

Shooter appears on the new cut, along with some sizzling slide guitar licks from Lee Roy Parnell. Working with Jennings is very much outside the box, says Cyrus – something he likes a lot.

“He is so outside the box. He’s definitely his daddy’s son. There is so much of Waylon that you see with Shooter. It’s something in the spirit. When we first decided to record together, he sent me a song titled ‘Kill The Blues.’ The version he sent me was actually Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. I fell in love with the song. He said ‘Come on down to the studio. I’ve got this really cool band.’ I was kind of in a funk at the time, and the music was really the remedy for me. That was the only way I could release my emotions was through the music. We spent the day doing this marathon session,” he says, adding that working with Jennings is quite magical because there are no rules of thumb. The two just did what felt right. “Shooter is not just outside the box…He is the box.”

Cyrus also tackles a trio of songs written by Kris Kristofferson – “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again), and “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” Joining him on the latter is newcomer Kenley Shea Holm, of whom Cyrus speaks highly. “I had heard her sing on this musical that one of my buddies had done. I thought she sounded like a sexy Patsy Cline. There was such a raw sex appeal in Patsy’s voice. I asked him if we could bring her into the session, and she nailed that vibe. In a lot of ways, ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ is a sexy song. You don’t get any sexier than that statement alone. She brought her voice to it, and it turned out to be a really amazing track.”

Of the newer material, Cyrus is proud of the stirring “Hope (Let It Find You),” of which he had a hand in co-writing. “As a songwriter, most of my songs have come to me in moments of inspiration and desperation colliding, and they come really quick. I write a lot of songs by myself, but in this instance, I had a rare writing session with a couple of great songwriters and they asked me ‘What do you want to sing about?’ Maybe I had been watching too much news, in particular the world events. I was a little blue because there was so much sadness in the world. I said ‘I think what the world really needs right now is hope,’ and we just took off into it. We just took off and started writing it.”

Cyrus admits that the message of the song might not have fit with such early albums as Some Gave All and It Won’t Be The Last, as he doesn’t know if he could have written the song with the same depth in 1992-1993. “I don’t know if in the early days, I would have done something like it, but I think it’s a message of hope with some Def Leppard guitar on it.” The album also benefits from a special guest appearance. “Then, Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple comes in with that incredible voice of his, and says ‘This is a song that people need. They need hope right now.’ He put so much soul in it, and it became something very special.”

Cyrus’ music is not the only thing keeping him in the news these days. His new CMT series Still The King has been so well received by viewers that it has already been picked up for a second season. “I’m so excited,” he beams. “I love the show. Just like the world needs hope, it also needs laughter.  I find that a bit of my purpose right now in entertainment – at least on this show, if you can think it, and it’s funny, you can probably do it. I love that concept. My mantra right now in both music and making the show is there are no rules or pre-conceived notions. I just love to try to make people laugh, and entertain them with smart storylines.”

He says the show has the same feeling of general insanity as such slapstick fare as Soap and Newhart. “When you start watching the show, you realize that the sanest person in the entire cast is my daughter, Charlotte. As you’re watching the show, you start to think she might be the only person playing with a full deck here. You’ve got this dysfunctional Elvis impersonator who lies his way into the Church as a preacher, and then it occurred to me that I was such a great father on Hannah Montana, that I needed to become this horrible and dysfunctional father in history,” he says, grinning. “You find out that you have this fifteen-year-old daughter that you never knew you had, and that was kind of the mix from there.”

It’s hard to believe, but next year will mark the silver anniversary of “Achy Breaky Heart,” his 1992 debut single, which topped the charts for five weeks. He doesn’t refer to those time as “the good old days,” insisting that he is having as much fun as he ever has. “I’m not taking anything too serious right now. I’m just out there having fun. I’m just thankful to the Almighty God to still be in the game, and still be here loving what I get to do. I love music. It’s still my passion, and making Still The King is most fun I have ever done. I didn’t know acting could be so much fun.”

He takes a look around his home, just south of Nashville, and sees a memento from his past that has deep meaning to the Kentucky native. “As I sit here, I’m looking at this letter that Johnny Cash wrote me back in 1992. One of the things he said was ‘I was very impressed to hear you give God the credit for your success. It’s good to be reminded of where all goodness comes from. I keep the letter because it reminds me that Johnny Cash was in my corner, but at the same time, it is good to be reminded that all goodness comes from our Almighty God. You have to remember to give him the glory. People will ask me ‘Wait a minute. How do you do that? You play this dysfunctional preacher, and I respond ‘In today’s world, you have to be outside the box if you want to get peoples’ attention.”

Needless to say, it sounds like success in both music and acting has not changed Cyrus’s personality one bit. “The bottom line is I’m very thankful for all of his blessings, and him allowing me to do what I love to do. I pray to God will use my music and everything about my life to represent his love. Just like the song on the album says, the world needs hope. Sometimes, you’ve got to be serious, and take that approach. Other times, you just have fun. That’s what I’m doing right now!”