Billy Ray Cyrus on Elizabeth Hurley Romance, a Near-Death Health Crisis & Hannah Montana's Return — Transcript

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1. 0:00Should I tell People magazine I'm going
2. 0:01to do something for the first time that
3. 0:03I've never done? Everyone else does it
4. 0:05all the time. Entertainers do it all the
5. 0:07time.
6. 0:08And I've never done it. Do you know what
7. 0:09that is?
8. 0:14Say I retire. I've never done that. I've
9. 0:16never once said, "You know what? I'm
10. 0:18going to finish this and retire." I
11. 0:20don't want to retire right this second,
12. 0:22but I think it'd be fun to say it. Well,
13. 0:24I was about to call it on Old Town Road.
14. 0:27>> Wish I could roll home back to that old
15. 0:30town road. I want to ride till I can't
16. 0:34no more.
17. 0:34>> I was going to do 2020 and just
18. 0:37celebrate all the great festivals and
19. 0:39the record that went
20. 0:41everywhere around the world and the
21. 0:43all the funnest festivals and shows and
22. 0:46I was just going to take 2020. Gave me a
23. 0:49couple Grammys in the month of January
24. 0:51just to kick the year off strong, you
25. 0:52know. Then about
26. 0:55February, March
27. 0:57pandemic.
28. 0:59World shuts down. I was sitting right
29. 1:01here in this yard, me and my dog Tommy
30. 1:03Jack, looking around going, "Tommy, I
31. 1:05guess it's me and you." That's why I
32. 1:06don't got no time to look back. I don't
33. 1:08want to spend no time looking back. I
34. 1:09like where everything looks right now
35. 1:11and let's
36. 1:12picture a great future,
37. 1:15do fun things, creative things, songs
38. 1:18that move you, hopefully
39. 1:20move other folks and striving for a
40. 1:23purpose.
41. 1:31All these years later and this album
42. 1:33being with Brazen and with Noah and
43. 1:36going back to our roots as a family and
44. 1:39that my dad was such a part of our
45. 1:42musical legacy and our I want to say
46. 1:45training, but none of us was trained.
47. 1:48It's something in our ears, music to
48. 1:51play by ear. My mom had the same gift.
49. 1:53She played everything by ear. I got
50. 1:56lucky enough to get it and the kids got
51. 1:58it and to be in this moment
52. 2:02with Braison and Noah in this
53. 2:04anniversary with Miley and it's just a
54. 2:06great celebration of our family.
55. 2:08>> I loved being Hannah then.
56. 2:11I'm so living for it now.
57. 2:13>> You know Hannah Montana? That's my child
58. 2:16in real life. That's my little girl,
59. 2:18Miley.
60. 2:18>> Love you.
61. 2:19>> Best of both worlds. They was going to
62. 2:21do that movie, the Hannah Montana
63. 2:24back to Tennessee movie.
64. 2:26And shoot it in Louisiana. And I said,
65. 2:30"Hey, guys, look.
66. 2:32This would be great if Miley really did
67. 2:34come to Tennessee. She ain't even going
68. 2:36to have to be acting." And I like
69. 2:39"We'd love that, but there's no way that
70. 2:41could compete with the incentive to
71. 2:43look." I said, "Man, give it Tennessee's
72. 2:45good, man."
73. 2:47>> Welcome to Tennessee.
74. 2:49>> And I came here and scouted, took each
75. 2:51location including the field that you
76. 2:53see out there and you can pick you back
77. 2:55to the movie and the horses running and
78. 2:57riding. So, we came home, did the film
79. 2:59here,
80. 3:00then went back and did the fourth season
81. 3:03of Hannah Montana. And now to gone
82. 3:06through just a few weeks ago, the
83. 3:0820-year anniversary
84. 3:10and thinking, you know, wow.
85. 3:14It's hard to believe that
86. 3:16in 20 years, during that first year of
87. 3:20the 20, my father died, her grandfather.
88. 3:24She called him Pap.
89. 3:25And um
90. 3:27he only got to see a few episodes. So,
91. 3:30for us thinking too, that's 20 years. We
92. 3:32were doing, oddly enough,
93. 3:35one of the funnest, most popular scenes
94. 3:37we did IN THE SERIES.
95. 3:45I MEAN, WORLDWIDE, that song is as big
96. 3:48for me as Achy Breaky or Old Town Road.
97. 3:51As we were filming those early episodes
98. 3:53of Hannah, my dad had started going to
99. 3:55the doctor and he was going to see a
100. 3:57specialist for cancer up in Boston. He
101. 3:59had been to the doctor in Boston and
102. 4:01he's calling to tell me on my answering
103. 4:03machine, "Hey bud,
104. 4:05just letting you know things are going
105. 4:07fair to Midland. Uh-oh." And about that
106. 4:09time Johnny Damon, who had a mullet, who
107. 4:11is actually the guy I wrote the song
108. 4:14when I saw Johnny Damon from the Red Sox
109. 4:17on TV for the first time and it was the
110. 4:19Yankee he's against the Red Sox and this
111. 4:21guy steps up with a mullet. His name was
112. 4:23Johnny Damon. In that very moment, I
113. 4:26just
114. 4:27this song just came out of the sky,
115. 4:29really.
116. 4:37Going into the day we was going to do
117. 4:40the episode, Disney called time out and
118. 4:43called me to the side and said my father
119. 4:45had just died.
120. 4:46And I was like,
121. 4:48and he loved I want my mullet back. He
122. 4:51had had like the early demos. He said,
123. 4:53"Bo, this feels like a hit. Everybody
124. 4:55wants their mullet back. It was a
125. 4:56simpler time, Camaros, da da da." He
126. 4:58loves ZZ Top. A lot of people don't
127. 5:00think that of him. So, I asked Miley, I
128. 5:02said, "What do you want to do?" And we
129. 5:04took a time out for a second and then
130. 5:07she said, "What would Pappy say?" And
131. 5:08I'd say, "You know what? I know what
132. 5:09he'd say. He'd say,
133. 5:11the show must go on. Me and you get up
134. 5:13there, let's do our song and then we'll
135. 5:15go home and bury him."
136. 5:17And that's what we did. And so, anytime
137. 5:19you see that, that was one take of I
138. 5:21want my mullet back and it was that
139. 5:23take.
140. 5:24And then that was a wrap.
141. 5:33I love that thing that
142. 5:35Noah did
143. 5:37with
144. 5:38my dad, Pappy.
145. 5:40And it was the title track of her newest
146. 5:43album, I want my loved ones to go with
147. 5:45me,
148. 5:46written by my grandfather. My dad sang
149. 5:48that song with the Crownsmen Quartet,
150. 5:51but
151. 5:52Noah changed the name to apple tree.
152. 5:55And only Noah would change that song to
153. 5:57apple tree, which is so appropriate. And
154. 6:00she wrote a whole 'nother beautiful Noah
155. 6:02story.
156. 6:04Marinated it with my dad's gospel
157. 6:06quartet, and that is the title track of
158. 6:09her album. She's got that one song
159. 6:11honestly that saved my life. It's called
160. 6:16don't put it all on me. Brazen wrote
161. 6:18that. And that was I think one of the
162. 6:21only songs on her album that was not
163. 6:23written by her.
164. 6:25And Brazen wrote it, she cut it.
165. 6:31I became
166. 6:32I want to say not only addicted to the
167. 6:34song, but it became necessary
168. 6:38repetitive every morning, every day, all
169. 6:41day long, all through the night. Me and
170. 6:44my dog Tommy Jack would just sit, and we
171. 6:46would play just play the song all day
172. 6:48long. It was the only thing
173. 6:50that and somehow gave me a little bit of
174. 6:53peace in that moment. I got really sick
175. 6:56and almost died. And I was like
176. 7:00as I was trying to stay alive
177. 7:03at times they sent me home from the
178. 7:05hospital
179. 7:06and I'd be there with Tommy Jack, and
180. 7:08but my body was blowing up.
181. 7:10And there was a um toxicity of some type
182. 7:13of
183. 7:14whatever.
184. 7:15And if if it had erupted, I would have
185. 7:17died. In the last moment I had a prayer
186. 7:21answered. There's a prayer rock, and I
187. 7:24found my this knee, this white knee part
188. 7:27of the reason why it's so white is
189. 7:31I started getting on that rock every
190. 7:32morning, every day, every sunset, every
191. 7:35night. And I go put my knee in there, I
192. 7:37would say, "God, please, I need a
193. 7:38miracle. I need a miracle." Tommy Jack
194. 7:40would be sitting there with me going,
195. 7:41"He needs a miracle. He needs a miracle.
196. 7:44Like please, he needs a miracle. Long
197. 7:46behold, they was going to do one last
198. 7:47surgery. I got to the hospital, they
199. 7:50said Mr. Scarce, get your your it's
200. 7:53gone.
201. 7:54It healed.
202. 7:55I had a miracle. Love, hope, music,
203. 8:00joy,
204. 8:02things that I'd really have forgotten
205. 8:04exactly maybe what they felt like.
206. 8:07And I go, "Oh, even to dream again." To
207. 8:09dream again of what? I don't know. Maybe
208. 8:12write a song that somebody gives about.
209. 8:14Maybe go try and sing." And I go, "I
210. 8:16can't sing. I've been stricken with a
211. 8:18disease and I have no voice. I can't
212. 8:20talk."
213. 8:21And I start believing once I had the
214. 8:23first miracle, I said, "Scarce,
215. 8:26you can't talk or sing now, but believe
216. 8:28you can. Believe you can." I said I
217. 8:30said, "And that's where I found leaning
218. 8:33into that song with Noah." I just loved
219. 8:35it so much and to me that's what it felt
220. 8:37like.
221. 8:38And I do credit that particular song was
222. 8:41saving me.
223. 8:43It's part of it for sure.
224. 8:46She came into my life in the making of
225. 8:49this album.
226. 8:49>> My knees so weak, I can hardly stand.
227. 8:52I'll get where I'm going, I don't give a
228. 8:54damn cuz it's all right.
229. 8:56>> I thought, "Wait,
230. 8:58I've never seen anybody that
231. 9:00in some ways has more in common
232. 9:03with the insanity that I have lived
233. 9:06through this crazy business called show
234. 9:08business."
235. 9:10And then mix in
236. 9:12other
237. 9:13personal
238. 9:15good things and tragedies. She's like me
239. 9:18when she has a good one, it's a really
240. 9:20really good, but when it's bad, it's
241. 9:22bad. We found a commonality in that.
242. 9:25>> Why are you hiding out on a little
243. 9:26Caribbean island singing in a beach bar?
244. 9:30>> I reckon everybody on this island asking
245. 9:32the same question.
246. 9:33>> That's how we met, yeah. Christmas in
247. 9:35paradise.
248. 9:37I flew
249. 9:38to do this movie in the middle of the
250. 9:41Caribbean.
251. 9:43Only because I needed a distraction at
252. 9:46that moment from real life.
253. 9:48And being this character named Jimmy
254. 9:50that they'd written for me, you know, I
255. 9:51just said, "You'll be Jimmy with Kelsey
256. 9:53Grammer. That sounds fun."
257. 9:56And the morning I flew to do it was
258. 9:58Easter morning.
259. 9:59Landed down there and didn't realize
260. 10:01that maybe they had oversold their
261. 10:03budget and their capabilities of making
262. 10:06like a great movie.
263. 10:08But at that point
264. 10:10I was like, I did it and then I flew
265. 10:13home. And then
266. 10:15like I don't even know, but I think they
267. 10:17cut our scene out. Actually she and I
268. 10:20had one scene together and it was a
269. 10:21really deep conversation about her
270. 10:23father dying
271. 10:25played by Kelsey Grammer.
272. 10:26And
273. 10:28I thought we did really good in it, but
274. 10:31it didn't make the movie. I don't know
275. 10:32if anybody's ever seen it. I'm very
276. 10:35pleased to say
277. 10:36that she reached out of a text because
278. 10:39she had my phone number because she was
279. 10:41a producer of the film. I saw her for
280. 10:44the first time
281. 10:46uh personally on March the 3rd of last
282. 10:49year. It was our first time to see each
283. 10:50other and
284. 10:51she was like
285. 10:53"Man, everybody's coming to Tennessee."
286. 10:55And I said, "Yeah, man, everybody's
287. 10:57coming to Tennessee. It's a hot spot to
288. 10:59film." And so she came over to explore
289. 11:04why Nashville was so happening. She
290. 11:06ended up staying and then lo and behold
291. 11:08then
292. 11:09she told me it was my turn to go there.
293. 11:11I finally leave Williamson County for
294. 11:13the first time in 5 years. I go to
295. 11:15London. Craziest thing I've ever done.
296. 11:18But I had to do it.
297. 11:21Like something just said
298. 11:23"Truck in. Truck in."
299. 11:26Gosh, man.
300. 11:28Okay, it feels like something real. It
301. 11:31feels like something real. The first
302. 11:33time we ever Then I made it to London
303. 11:36and I just got there and made it to her
304. 11:38house and I was like
305. 11:39on the wrong time zone and everything
306. 11:41and
307. 11:42her and D-man said, "Hey, we've decided
308. 11:44to go to
309. 11:45Rome."
310. 11:47to the big
311. 11:49Valentino exhibit. When's it cut?
312. 11:51Tomorrow? What? And next thing you know,
313. 11:53there we go. And then we're getting out
314. 11:57and then
315. 11:58she's got on that pink dress. I'm in all
316. 12:01black. There was something in the
317. 12:02opposites of us, I think that maybe
318. 12:07maybe not only
319. 12:09got other people's attention, but maybe
320. 12:11even got our own attention.
321. 12:13Elizabeth would say to me, "Do you
322. 12:14understand your voice is coming back?"
323. 12:16She encouraged it to the point to where
324. 12:19I mean, I don't want to point a finger
325. 12:21at nobody, but she's the one that had me
326. 12:23do my singing.
327. 12:24And she said, "You need to do it to
328. 12:27challenge yourself."
329. 12:39She is so smart to say that cuz that
330. 12:42affects me in my to say,
331. 12:44"Well, she's right about that."
332. 12:46And so I go, "If you don a 250-lb
333. 12:51owl suit and go out on national
334. 12:53worldwide television and try to sing,
335. 12:57then you therefore are a singer."
336. 12:59And it's time to get back and she said,
337. 13:02"You You can't sing." She said, "You got
338. 13:04to do this. It's important to your
339. 13:05spirit."
340. 13:16The oddest part about it is is that was
341. 13:19the beginning of Brazen saying, "Dad, I
342. 13:21don't know what's going on with your
343. 13:23voice, but this is the most I've ever
344. 13:25loved your singing." And him and Noah
345. 13:27started
346. 13:29you know, comparing it to some of
347. 13:32you know, Leonard Cohen or the Johnny
348. 13:34Cash. They started comparing it to some
349. 13:37really great sound that Kristofferson,
350. 13:39one of them, had mentioned and going,
351. 13:41"Man, that
352. 13:42And I'm going, "I'm
353. 13:44I'm not there, but I hear what you're
354. 13:46saying if
355. 13:47if I just keep working my voice
356. 13:50So, I do
357. 13:52the album and we cut the tracks, but
358. 13:54then I do go to England
359. 13:57get my voice back
360. 13:59go do
361. 14:00the Masked Singer, challenge myself, and
362. 14:03in the latter part of the fall, I'm back
363. 14:05on my home turf with my studio and my
364. 14:08voice is back. It was God's timing for
365. 14:11me to go beat every vocal that I had
366. 14:13done
367. 14:147 months earlier. So, we brought the
368. 14:16studio here and
369. 14:19finished it up really strong. Noah and I
370. 14:22came into this barn and made the video,
371. 14:24you know, and then
372. 14:26for us to go full circle to Stagecoach
373. 14:29and Brazen join us on that show. What
374. 14:32more could I ask for? I don't have
375. 14:34anything to complain about. I certainly
376. 14:36don't even want to take time looking
377. 14:38back. Whatever happened is in the
378. 14:40rearview mirror.
379. 14:42And the present and the future looks so
380. 14:46good and feels good.
381. 14:54I love this music and I'll I feel
382. 14:56really, really
383. 14:58like a full plate of what this music is
384. 15:00and even I've wrote so many new songs
385. 15:03with new stuff. I've got two or three
386. 15:06albums in the can. I point this way cuz
387. 15:09that's where the studio is there,
388. 15:11in-house. I'm up to speed on the music
389. 15:13and I love it right now. I'm going out
390. 15:15on tour and playing
391. 15:17go taking it to the people. That's the
392. 15:19fun part.
393. 15:20But, I got some creative things that I
394. 15:22want to do in acting in
395. 15:24particular right now. As my dad said,
396. 15:26like
397. 15:27life is a series of adjustments.
398. 15:30Sometimes it's fair, sometimes it's not
399. 15:32fair.
400. 15:33I think that's
401. 15:35maybe sometimes good for everyone, you
402. 15:37know, to just go life is a series of
403. 15:39adjustments. I saw that crazy old man in
404. 15:41the pink cardigan say that. He said it.
405. 15:44And they go,
406. 15:46"Yeah, it's actually true." And you make
407. 15:48the adjustment to whatever the cards are
408. 15:50that life has dealt you. So, that's kind
409. 15:52of, you know, always been for me
410. 15:56sometimes change is scary.
411. 15:59And I'll keep doing the wrong thing for
412. 16:01a long time because I'm scared of
413. 16:02change.
414. 16:04But, when I finally do get the courage
415. 16:06up to commit in my mind and say I'm
416. 16:08going to do this, then
417. 16:10that's the way it is, no looking back. I
418. 16:12don't got a lot of time left. Whatever
419. 16:14this story goes, that's the way this
420. 16:16story probably going to end somewhere
421. 16:18close to that. Whatever happens from
422. 16:20here, this is my legacy.