Back To Tennessee is much more than just another album in one man's remarkable and enduring career. This is an extremely meaningful homecoming in that man's singular journey back to the musical roots that have long sustained him. "This album is everything I am at this second," says Cyrus. "It's everything that I've been through and every step along the way to this point -- Ironically, sometimes looking back, in my case BACK TO TENNESEE, is the best way to move forward."
Sensing it was now time to make another musical statement, Cyrus earlier this year carved out time in his busy schedule to go to Tennessee and dedicate himself one hundred percent to making a new album. As he recalls, "I lived in the studio, just like I used to, working with Mark and an amazing group of musicians."
To the public, Cyrus has played many parts, yet on Back To Tennessee, he is only himself as he sings songs from the inspirational ("Somebody Said A Prayer") to the simply entertaining ("Thrillbilly"). It's an album that sums up Cyrus's entire path.
Asked what he's most proud of in his career so far, Cyrus takes his guest today to a prized place in his West Coast home where he keeps a letter than means more to him than any other world possession. That letter came from Hendersonville, Tennessee and written on June 12, 1992. The letter came from the one and only Johnny Cash. As the Man In Black wrote Cyrus:
"I was very impressed recently to hear you give God the credit for your success. It's good to be reminded where all goodness comes from. Thirty-six years ago today I was working with Elvis and saw him take the same flak you're taking now. Congratulations on the way you're handling it all. In your case, as in Elvis', the good outweighs the bad. Let 'em have it. I'm in your corner."
Those words meant the world to Cyrus, then and now. "There was a storm brewing in my life right then, and he sent me that letter. I held to it because if Johnny thinks I'm okay, I figure I'm okay. Bruce Springsteen also stood up for me - which was amazing. Those men and Carl Perkins taught me something I still live by. If I don't fit in, then I don't fit in. I'd rather have friends like that. And I'd rather be myself."
Take a listen to Back To Tennessee, and hear the deeply felt sound of Billy Ray Cyrus being himself, as only he can.
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Dear Billy Ray, I stop by here to wish you and the kind folks around you a happy holiday season. I am also calling upon you regarding a persecutive and discriminative program in the United States against the mentally ill. The theory goes like this: Jane Fonda's Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) was the reason for her actions during the Vietnam war. A.D.D. and Jane Fonda were what caused the United States weak and lost a war. Therefore, keep the mentally ill individuals from gaining popularity, wealth, and influences is a national security issue. I heard a very talented high school singer and actress was fired because she had maniac depression. She was replaced by someone else who went through surgeries to look like her and sound like her. She and her family were also set up to be hurt and to hate another mentally ill patient. Numerous celebrities and individuals from privileged families, as well as some mentally ill patients themselves (because these people often do not know about their own mental health issues), were elicited to do these dirty jobs for this pseudo governmental organization, endorsed and supported by the highest levels of government according to rumors. The children of a mentally ill patient can be tagged, spied upon, tormented, among other things, by various dirty tasks and illegal activities without the knowledge and authorization of their parents. Dating, mating, socializing, and even communication of a mentally ill are often discouraged, disrupted, and hampered. Many people's lives have been affected. I heard the program was originated from an illegal wire tapping of a foreign student for intelligence gain. But instead of facing the scandal and correcting the wrong doings, some senior governmental officials expanded this program as if it could justify the original wrongs. Dear Sir, mental illnesses can be as common as heart diseases, arthritis, or any other human bodily abnormalities. Any of us healthy today can become mentally ill,
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