CMT Blog: Billy Ray Cyrus

An hour into Monday night’s (June 16) Nashville Star, Trace Adkins performed “You’re Gonna Miss This.” It wasn’t perfect, but it still gave everyone something to shoot for. It was a pivotal point in the show. The one where all the mediocrity that came before Adkins disappeared to make room for all the brilliance that would come after. And her name is Melissa Lawson.

I usually feign complete boredom with these staged talent shows and bitch about artists needing to pay their dues the old fashioned way. But the minute someone like Lawson opens her mouth, I’m texting my vote like a teenage girl. Read more…

Usually I can persuade a few of my friends to join me for the nightly concerts at the CMA Music Festival, so I don’t have to sit there by myself all night, taking notes. This year, for the first time, I had several friends ask if they could tag along. Well, sure! Seeing the event through the eyes of a first-timer always makes it a lot more fun. When Rascal Flatts suddenly appeared as the surprise guest that first night, you could definitely sense the excitement in the crowd - stuff like this just doesn’t happen outside of Nashville.

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Scheduling conflicts have forced Miley Cyrus to cancel today’s show for Wal-Mart employees. Make that 15,000 disappointed Wal-Mart employees.

Everybody burps. But it’s nice to hear someone as gorgeous Carrie Underwood admitting to such an ugly little secret.

Forget about her new country album. Jewel has already sold more than 18 million albums, earning her an industry career milestone award.

When Billy Ray Cyrus calls, Bucky Covington picks up. So now Bucky’s got himself a part in the new Hannah Montana movie that the Cyrus’ are filming in Tennessee.

Jessica Simpson on blonde moments, Tony Romo and how country music feels like warm peach cobbler.

New videos from Billy Ray Cyrus, Cory Morrow, and Gary Allan went under the microscope at the latest CMT Music and Talent department’s weekly video meeting. The videos enjoyed varying degrees of success from the committee members.

The videos:

Artist: Billy Ray Cyrus
Video: “Real Gone”
Director: Trey Fanjoy

Comments: Billy Ray’s newest is a blistering, feel-good remake of the Sheryl Crow song with plenty of drag racing, beautiful babes and lots of action. A summing-up of viewers’ opinions: “I like it,” was an early comment. Read more…

I got a puppy about a month ago. So naturally, I became instantly obsessed with dogs as if I was the first person to actually own one. I have all the books, I watch Animal Planet non-stop and spend about $150 a week at PetSmart on toys this little guy has no interest in. I’ve done everything short of getting a my-dog-is-smarter-than-your-dog bumper sticker. But what I keep wondering is, why there are no good country songs about dogs?

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Rampant reports around the Web indicate that Miley Cyrus has had a moratorium on public appearances and media utterances placed on her. Reports say that Disney has decided the Hannah Montana star has reached a no-win situation with the media frenzy surrounding her recent Vanity Fair magazine photo shoot and its somewhat revealing results.

So she seemingly will stay buttoned up and in the Disney cocoon for awhile, until the hubbub dies down. That’s probably the smartest thing she could do. The media monster is blaming her, blaming Billy Ray, blaming Vanity Fair, blaming the publicity machine. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but there’s still a valid argument to be made that this is a tempest in a teapot. Millions of words written and spoken over … what? Remember, despite all of her superstar success, Miley Cyrus is just a 15-year-old child.

Teenage girls do embarrassing things. If you don’t believe me, go get a teen magazine and you’ll see entire pages devoted to their little oops moments: “I farted in front of my boyfriend,” “I had toilet paper on my shoe all day,” “I had a big pimple on the day my crush finally noticed me,” “My skirt got caught in my underpants.” That kind of thing.

But never do these teens have to issue apologies about the embarrassment. The humiliation itself is bad enough. So for Miley Cyrus, having to say she was sorry must just make matters worse. Read more…

In the end, it’s all about who wore what. For some Web sites, anyway. Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill and others get critiqued for their attire at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. But Hill’s rep says a flowing tunic topic doesn’t mean the singer is pregnant.

In more post-show news, Jason Aldean gushed over Snoop Dogg, remarking that when he calls you a pimp it’s the ultimate compliment. Seriously?

And Taylor Swift gives her play-by-play commentary of the entire night, up until the part where she is FREAKING OUT.

Determined not to be pigeon-holed as just a singer/songwriter/actor, Tim McGraw has written a children’s book due out this fall. And his latest greatest hits package is due out later this month.

Yes, Kenny Chesney is known for his stadium shows. But what if you could see him in a small room with only a few hundred people? If you live in Chicago and listen to radio station WUSN you can.

And Billy Ray Cyrus tells OK magazine he’s trying to be Miley’s BFF. Get in line, dad.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Cyrus,

Just a note to say thanks so much for letting Miley co-host tonight’s CMT Music Awards. Because of her, I plan to be firmly planted on my couch this evening. Like the promos have said, I have a feeling that this year will be better than ever. And a lot of that is because of your daughter Destiny Hope. Sorry. I mean Miley Ray.

This is nothing against Jeff Foxworthy. He’s a brilliant comic and everything. And was a perfect host for the past few shows. But this year is shaping up to have more cool awards and really hot performers. Even Tim McGraw is performing after quite a few years of missing this event. That could very well be because of Miley. Not just her, but the power she brings with her everywhere she goes. She’s absolutely impossible to ignore. So if there was someone who was on the fence about watching tonight’s show, Miley will be what persuades them to tune in. And if there was someone who had never even heard of CMT, but loves Miley, I’m guessing they’ll watch it, too. Plus, I hear Miley had a big impact on ticket sales. I’m sure the show has sold out in years past, but probably never as quickly as it did this year. Your daughter’s probably even had an impact on advertising revenue. If I was selling something to tweens, I’d want to saturate those two hours with my message.

Having two triple-platinum albums by the time she was 15 must mean Miley has a lot of people in her corner. I know she doesn’t have a MySpace page where she can brag about the number of streams or the friends she’s added. But I’ve been to two of her concerts, so I’ve seen what kind of real-world following she has. And now all those people will be turned onto country music because of her. They may love her for her raspy vocals and her girl-next-door attitude. But by the end of tonight’s broadcast, I’ll bet they love her for the country roots you’ve blessed her with.

Thanks again for sharing your daughter with us tonight.

Regards,

Alison Bonaguro

You probably know Chris Crocker as the “leave-Britney-alone” guy. He was the internet sensation who appeared out of nowhere after Britney Spears‘ unpolished performance at last year’s VMA Awards. Her sloppy style brought critics out with a vengeance. And that spawned Crocker’s desperate video plea to the media to back off, making him the butt of jokes and the subject of criticism himself. But really, it comes down to the fact that fans firmly stand by their artists. I know this because I get hate mail whenever I write something remotely negative.

Now, aside from this guy, country fans are the most loyal group I know. And there may already be some out there who would dramatically come to a country artist’s rescue. I’ve crossed paths with a handful of good candidates. A few years ago I traveled all the way from Chicago down to Rayville, La., to see Tim McGraw at his Swampstock event. Only Tim got sick three songs into his set, then left the stage for good. The minute a sigh of disappointment crossed my lips, his fans claimed that I shouldn’t be thinking of myself at a time like this, when he was so clearly ill. They defended McGraw like he was their BFF. They didn’t post an internet video about it, though.

No one in country music has taken it as far as Crocker. Yet. For now, country fans seem to rein in their passion and keep things offline. If the day comes, though, that someone posts a video pleading with the media to leave Billy Ray Cyrus alone, I won’t be surprised. Awed, maybe. But not surprised.