Country Thunder a blast for Cyrus
By Cathalena E. Burch
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.21.2008
FLORENCE — Billy Ray Cyrus was having so much fun at Country Thunder on Saturday night that you wondered if someone was going to have to yank him from the stage.
Cyrus had a schoolboy skip in his gait and the assuredness of a headliner, even though he was opening for the opener. He worked the 35,000-strong crowd from every stage angle — side to side and all the way down that center ramp that reached the end of the reserved seating area and touched noses with the tip of the sprawling lawn section.
And he did it with dignity, spirit and the full realization that opening act Kellie Pickler, headliner Dierks Bentley and the day's other artists — Bucky Covington and Luke Bryan — were the future of country music.
During a pre-concert interview backstage, Cyrus said he was comforted that that future would flourish, an opinion that was no doubt bolstered after he shared the stage with Covington during an astoundingly good cover of Van Morrison's classic "Brown Eyed Girl."
Then he spent the rest of his set defending the argument that those "guys like that" could include him.
He has the look: Hollywood hillbilly blond streaks in his shoulder-length shaggy 'do; tight contemporary blue jeans with a stone-washed fade streaking the thighs; and a button-down shirt, untucked. The sunglasses, which he wore long after the sun had scooted over for a full moon, were the crowning touch.
When he sang his Miley song — "Ready, Set, Don't Go" written with his pop-singer daughter Miley Cyrus on his mind — he made it clear that his "Achy Breaky Heart" days were so behind him. "Ready, Set" was his second Top 10 song after "Achy Breaky," forever erasing the label "one-hit wonder" from his résumé.
In case you weren't born when Cyrus released that silly song as his debut in 1992, "Achy Breaky" was the best thing that happened to his career, and the worst. He sold some 9 million copies of his debut album, "Some Gave All," but his name was typecast for novelty songs that spawned fun dance steps. He never recovered, really, even though he put out a few solid post-"Achy Breaky" efforts that should have secured his place among country's greats.
Which could explain why Cyrus relegated "Achy Breaky" to close his hourlong show, focusing his passion instead on some of those rich tunes from his early years: the up-tempo ballad "Could've Been Me" and the military ode "Some Gave All" among them.
"You don't know what an honor it is for an old boy from Kentucky to be able to take the stage with you," the 46-year-old Cyrus said.
The honor was also ours.
● Hometown boy Bentley reveled in the lovin' in his Country Thunder headlining debut.
And boy was there a lot of lovin' goin' around: applause, screams, hollers, whistles and more than a few choruses of "We love you, Dierks!"
A few songs into his set and yes, we did love Dierks.
With a smoothly nuanced baritone, he rocked us — "What Was I Thinkin'," "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do; he romanced us — "Come a Little Closer," "Settle for a Slowdown"; then he soothed our spirits — "Long Trip Alone" — during a musical romp that intersected high and low emotions and made us wish he still had a permanent Arizona address to call home.
● Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at 573-4642 or cburch@azstarnet.com.
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