★★★★★
Billy Ray Cyrus attempts to find his way home with his latest release, Back To Tennessee, declaring himself (with varying degrees of believability) a deep-rooted country boy, a devoted family man, and a hard-edged rocker. Mark Bright's country rock production, combined with elements of gospel and blues, achieves a vintage Billy Ray Cyrus sound on several stand-out tracks, including "Back To Tennessee," "Somebody Said a Prayer," and the Sheryl Crow/John Shanks cut "Real Gone...
- roughstock.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
Billy Ray Cyrus Some Gave All (Mercury) Kentuckian Billy Ray Cyrusdresses like James Dean and moves like Elvis, but he's really a Billy"Crash" Craddock for the '90s ? a purveyor of old-style rock & rolldone up with a twang. On his debut, Some Gave All, Cyrus and hisworkingman's-bar band rock with both the rhythm of sex (the crossoverhit "Achy Breaky Heart") and the rhythm of the job down at the autoplant...
- ew.com
2010-08-27
★★★★★
Billy Ray Cyrus' first effortfor a new label, Southern Rain, finds him scrambling for something that sticks.If he gets nearly swallowed up in the power-pop ballads, heshines on the roots rockers ? proof that underneath hislightweight, Chippendale reputation, there's an artist dying toget out. C+
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
The surprise
on Billy Ray Cyrus' fourth album comes from his own material: Trail of Tears is a rapidly
maturing, bleeding-heart blend of roots rock and country
classics wrapped in bare-bones production. Some may still
consider Cyrus to be a one-hit wonder, but there's wit behind
his wiggle: the brooding Celtic-influenced ''Need a Little Help''
and bluegrass-based title song should finally make him an
artistic contender. B
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
You have to give Billy Ray Cyrus some credit for having the
blue-jeans cojones to call his second album It Won't Be the Last
(Mercury Nashville). And you know what? It probably won't be his
last, and it shouldn't. Sure, Cyrus deserves some of the backlash
he's enduring in the wake of selling 7 million copies of his debut
album, Some Gave All. He can seem like a musclebound oaf- Joey
Buttafuoco with a ponytail...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
In a bid
for the radio play largely denied him since ''Achy Breaky Heart,''
Billy Ray Cyrus hands over the reins to a stable of Nashville writers,
pickers, and producers. Yet he's most compelling when he invests
these mainstream songs with the vocal grit and rage of his
previous albums recorded with his road band. Even if Shot Full of Love can't
rejuvenate Cyrus' career, it'll buoy his rabid fans. B-
- ew.com
2009-06-12