Billy Ray Cyrus Rises From The Ashes With New Album

Seven years is a long time to be away from the studio. For Billy Ray Cyrus, those seven years weren’t a sabbatical—they were survival. The“Achy Breaky Heart”country icon has spent the better part of this decade battling personal demons that would’ve sidelined most artists for good: two divorces, a near-fatal bout with sepsis that left his vocal cords paralyzed, and a very public implosion with his own family. Yet here he is, ready to prove that rock bottom has a basement, and the only way out is up.

The Hill, arriving June 16, marks Cyrus’s first album since 2019’s The SnakeDoctor Circus. In that intervening stretch, he divorced Tish Cyrus—his wife of nearly 30 years and mother of three of his children, including Miley—in 2022. Then came a whirlwind engagement to Australian singer Firerose just months later, followed by marriage in October 2023 and a contentious divorce filing less than eight months in, complete with dueling accusations of financial fraud. It reads like a country song nobody had the heart to write.

But here’s where the narrative shifts. Speaking with People magazine, Cyrus reframed the chaos not as tragedy but as trajectory.“When you’re completely on the bottom, that is the only way to go — up,”he said, reflecting on hitting what he calls a“low point.”His family rallied during the 2024 vocal paralysis crisis that followed his sepsis battle. More importantly, they’re actively participating in the comeback. His son Braison produced and co-wrote the new album, while his daughter Noah duets with him on the melancholic track“On Our Way Along”—a full-circle moment that speaks to genuine reconciliation after the storm.

Cyrus is also moving forward romantically with actress Elizabeth Hurley, whom he met on a movie set in 2022 and went official with last Easter. The fog is clearing. The rearview mirror is finally safe to ignore. At 64, he’s not chasing relevance; he’s chasing redemption—and for once, the story feels less about spectacle and more about survival and grace.

The Hill drops June 16. Listen closely. There’s a lot of living in these songs.