Billy Ray, y’all . . .
Once upon a time. . .
I feverishly hated Billy Ray Cyrus. His cruddy look, the cruddy music, the cruddy . . . everything.
Now, when I see my daughter being a fan of his daughter, my perspective is given a jolt. Miley (short sidetrack: Her name isn’t Miley - she got that nickname from her dad, the aformentioned and formerly reprehensible Billy Ray, who used to call her “Smiley Miley”) is a well-adjusted “tween” star; my daughter looks up to her, and looks down on the Britneys, Lindsays, and Parises that pollute this world.
Though I still loathe everything Billy Ray Cyrus has done in his professional career (from the “Achey Breakey” to “Doc” on PAX), he has proven me wrong; I not only think he’s the man of the year - he’s the man of the last 1.5 decades. He is a great, great man, as evidenced by his daughter, Smiley Miley, whose biggest scandal is showing her bare back on a magazine cover.
I am proud that Myley Cyrus is one of my daughter’s idols; as a result, I am proud to say that Billy Ray is now one of my idols. He is clearly a gentleman with proper ideals and perspective, who cast away the temptations of stardom in favor of the lost ideal of “doing the right thing”.
