Schräg: Frage
Normal: Antworten von Billy Ray Cyrus
What do you think of the response of the attendants
to your first show in Europe, yesterday at the Country Night Festival in
Gstaad?
When I came out on stage, all the people was
pressed out in front of the stage, jumping, screaming and yelling. It was
a great thing and the whole concert went that way. The fans were very active,
they sang along with the songs. They knew the words by heart. In fact,
we started with a song called "Words by heart" and from this very first
song to the last one the crowd sang along with us. It was just a dream
come true last night, and I'll always remember our first time in Europe
opening here in Gstaad.
We've realised that Don Von Tress, who's been
a songwriter in many of your songs including "Achy breaky heart", is playing
in your road band. When did he join Sly Dog?
Don Von Tress has been with us for about three
years. Don Von Tress is a Vietnam veteran who wrote "Achy breaky heart".
When I wrote the song "Some gave all", I had recorded "Achy breaky" and
I met Don. He explained to me about being in Vietnam and I told him 'Well,
I've recorded this song, it's gonna be the title track, it's called "Some
gave all"'. We became brothers at that time, Don and I. Don is a very deep
spiritual man and you wouldn't tell it from listening to "Achy breaky heart".
Don wrote "Achy breaky heart" when he was hanging wallpaper at home. He
just decided he would take a real funny approach at heartbreak and love
gone wrong. With just a few minutes he wrote "Achy breaky" and that song
changed my life a lot.
"Call me daddy" is one of the most brilliant
songs from your last studio album "Trail of tears". Can you tell us something
regarding the songwriting of this song?
Thank you for saying that. It's one of my favourite
songs too. I was flying to Virginia Beach to do a show there the next day
and the song just came to me. I got me a pen and paper and I wrote the
words. It came all to me at the same time. In a couple of minutes I wrote
the first two verses and the course. We arrived at the hotel at 4 o'clock
that morning, with Don Von Tress and Michael Joe Sagraves, and I told them
to finish that song right then. That night it was done and we recorded
it for the album "Trail of tears".
"Trail of tears" is probably your most personal
album and the most crafted of all you've recorded until now. What's your
own opinion of this album?
It took over a year to make that album in Terry
Sheldon's studio -my guitar player, Terry Sheldon-. It was on his house,
in a log cabin outside of Nashville. We tought that the material we had
for the new album had all the things that a great album needs, most important
the songs, but we didn't know what was the opinion of our record company.
Luke Lewis, the head of our label came out to hear the songs. He'd already
heard "Trail of tears" and when he came we were working on "Call me daddy"
at that time. When we played "Call me daddy" to Luke Lewis, he just shook
his head and said 'Keep doing this. Just keep doin' what you're doing'.
I told him that we might not be selling a lot of copies of this album,
but the critics will have to respect what we are doing.
After all this time, would you say that "Achy
breaky heart" was a bad thing or a good thing for your career?
I was fortunate enough and lukcy enough to record
"Achy breaky heart" and that whole bunch of hit records including "Could've
been me", that was a number 1 record, or "In the heart of a woman". These
were songs that weren't just number 1 records in the United States or Canada,
but also in South America, Europe, Africa, Australia or Japan. This songs
were big records around the world, not just "Achy breaky heart". Like "Could've
been me", "She's not crying anymore", "Where am I gonna live when I get
home" or "Some gave all", which is my most decorated song. I've won more
awards with this song "Some gave all" than with "Achy breaky heart". "In
the heart of a woman" was another big record force... "Trail of tears"
was also a record force. So, I was fortunate to follow "Achy breaky" with
a bunch of hit records. If "Achy breaky" were the only thing I'd ever done,
those that measure me only through this song, they would've been correct,
but that's not what happened.
(Pause)
But on the other hand, "Achy breaky heart" will always be a huge blessing to me and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm so proud of that song! That song made people dance and smile all around the world. Honestly, for a boy from Flatwoods, Kentucky, that just yesterday sat on a Harley-Davidson and drove to the top of the glacier to see the snow on top of the mountain... There are not a lot of guys from Flatwoods, Kentucky that get to do that in their lives and I was fortunate enough to get to do that.
Finally, yesterday you played a new song called
"Appalachian Lady" and you presented it as one of the tracks for your next
album. Can you tell us something about this new studio album you're preparing?
Yeah, we'll be cutting a new album from October
20th to October 30th. I always liked to try the new songs and see what
the crowd thinks about them before going into the studio. If there's a
great response, then I might record them. We've been playing "Appalachian
Lady" for three weeks and everywhere it's played, people just seem to love
the song. In our recent United States tour it's been one of the most requested
songs.
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