Billy Ray Cyrus – He Gave His All

By Raymond Loesch • September 22, 2009

Showcase Live – Foxboro, MA

First I have to say I have a new found respect for Billy Ray Cyrus, He still has what it takes to not only put on a great show but to really rock the house and engage the audience. I headed out to the Billy Ray Cyrus show on Friday with my oldest son Chris. I was really looking forward to the show as I really have not paid any attention to what Billy has been doing for the past decade and wanted to see what he was up to. My 21 year old son Chris who has an even more eclectic taste in music than I do(his favorite band is Linkin Park), believe it or not is a big Billy Ray Cyrus fan. The crowd was a mix of screaming little girls, I’m talking 8-12year olds to an older more subdued crowd ready to catch up with Billy Ray Cyrus.

Local group Cottonwood out of the western part of the state of Massachusetts opened for Billy. They were a group of very polished performers who have the talent to go places.

The group having been together since 1992 consists of ; Dan Whalen – Vocals & Lead Guitar, John Corbett – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin & Harmonica, John Draket – Drums, GregDwinell – Pedal Steel and Lead Guitar and Pete Oyer -Bass Guitar & Guitar.
These guys enjoy playing together and will play together as long as the fans keep coming to their shows. They started the show off with a great cover of Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying“. They performed an original song “Why is My Beer Always Empty?“, which the crowd ate up. I really liked the vocals and lyrics to this song and would love to hear it on the radio. They also did Zac Brown Bands “Chicken Fried” which was definitely a crowd pleaser along with Alabama’s “MountainMusic“. These guys really rocked the place and their stage presence and music abilities have and will take them far.

We shared a table with a couple of ladies from New Hampshire and a mother and daughter, Debbie and Taryn Stevens from Worcester Mass.. Taryn was very excited to be at her first concert, and was hoping to get a chance to meet Billy Ray Cyrus. The Showcase Live held a raffle for six people to win a meet and greet with him and we all agreed at the table if any one of us won, we would give our pass to Taryn. Unfortunately none of us won, but the kind hearted person at the door let Taryn in to meet him. She was so excited when she came out all she could say is that “he was so handsome and smelled great!” This made my night. I was hoping to post her meet and greet picture here in the article, but alas they must have lost my email.

Billy Ray came on the stage around 9:00 and started the show with “Burn Down The Trailer Park” from his album “Southern Rain” released in 2000. Billy looked great you really would not believe he is creeping up on ‘50′, Actually he is only 48. Wearing a denim shirt over a t-shirt and jeans with you guessed it cowboy boots, Billy still has the rugged good looks that make the women from 8 to 80 swoon. When Billy sang “It Coulda Been Me” from his debut album “Some Gave All” the crowd just ate it all up. Billy then jokingly asked the audience if they had any requests, and performed “She Don’t Love Me (She Don’t Hate Me)” off his 1993 album “Time Flies“.

Billy Ray’s vocals really shined through on his performances of “Wher’m I Gonna Live?” written by Billy and Cindy Cyrus and “Words By Heart” which was on his second album “It Won’t be the Last“. When Cyrus did “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” his first Top 5 single since “Busy Man” in 1999, you could tell the crowd was longing for the version with his daughter Miley Cyrus, but he pulled it off and it sounded great. He performed a few songs from his latest album “Back to Tennessee“. The songs were “A Good Day“, “Thrillbilly“, “Back to Tennessee” and “Somebody Said a Prayer“.

Cyrus capped the show with songs “In the Heart of a Woman” off his album “It Won’t Be The Last” and one of my personal favorites “Some Gave All“. The funniest moment of the night was when he apologized for having to play “Achy Breaky Heart“, but an apology was not needed as the crowd was eagerly anticipating this one. Billy then asked the crowd if they were ready to go home or since it was Friday night were they ready to party. His Encore songs were “Help Me Make it Through the Night” and “Johnny Be Good“. Cyrus went on to explain how he met this couple in Atlantic City, Joe and Rene and then proceeded to invite Joe to come up on stage and play the drums for two of the songs during the encore set.

Like I said in the beginning, I have a new found respect for Billy Ray Cyrus. Not only because he still has a great stage presence and a great singing voice and not only because he is a great song writer. The biggest reason I have a new found respect for the man is the fact that when most other performers would leave after the show, Billy stayed on as “Some Where Over the Rainbow” played over the speakers and signed autographs and shook hands and spoke to his fans. This is a man who respects his fans and shows his respect for his fans, It was one hell of a show, One hell of a performer and one hell of a night for country music fans, He Gave us His All.