Well…what is a concert-loving guy supposed to do on a Friday night? Sit home and stare at my walls? Not if there’s a show in town that I can score free tickets to! So off to Foxwoods with the Misses to see Billy Ray Cyrus! Yeehaw!

No opener, just a pretty hyped up video with lots of old clips, pics, and upbeat music. Pretty great intro until he came out and opened up with a pretty lame, wussy song. Not sure what it was.

But have no fear, he made up for it with the second song I Want My Mullet Back! A fitting tune from the dude with the best mullet of the 90s. He may have popularized the mullet really (not that we ever needed that look) along with Joe Dirt. The next song was his rendition of Folsom Prison Blues which was pretty cool to hear. Having really only been familiar with 2 of his songs, I was curious if he’d do covers to fill the set. Not sure if all the songs played, but from context I believe Tenntucky and She’s not Cryin’ Anymore were 2 out of the 3 next tunes.

He had a decent amount of physical energy, moving about the stage, doing some Carlton-esque dancing, and smiling the whole time. A cover of The Georgia Satellites’ Keep Your Hand to Yourself was played before bringing out Micki Free to play some songs on the Native American “honor flute.”

ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man was played and Micki Free then took lead singing duties over for Jimmy Hendrix’s All Along the Watch Tower and a couple others while Billy Ray left the stage (to rest?). The band did a pretty sweet jam session around this time too. Whether you like country or not, it’s pretty cool when they break into a jam session. This is where the musicianship is shown: lots of guitar solos, drums, basically just a good ole rock show with a different vibe.

When ole Billy came back out it was to do a duet with Miley Cyrus…a prerecorded music video from when she was like 12 called Butterfly. Lame. If memory serves me, his new single was next (It’s Alright I think) followed by the song everyone knows, so It Achy Breaky Heart. Love it or hate it, you know it! It was on this song where it became clear that his voice doesn’t have the energy that the rest of him has. He can play guitar, dance around, but the vocals were rough. He sings in a much lower tone/register than you’d expect making the song sound off.

Same lame ballad followed and then he closed with Old Town Road a song which I didn’t realize he had anything to do with. It’s a silly song from Lil Nas X, but apparently there are remix versions with Billy Ray Cyrus so I guess it’s fair game for him to play it. Again, the tone was way too low for what this song is. Can’t say I’m a fan of the song, but I know it enough to know it didn’t sound right being sung this way. He’s only 64 and there are many rockers out there who are same age and older still showing up with a killer voice. So this kinda broke my heart. My achy breaky heart. I’m sorry…I hate myself for doing it.