Hillbilly Heart (34 page)

She’s gotta do what she’s gotta do

And I’ve gotta like it or not

She’s got dreams too big for this town

And she needs to give ’em a shot

Wherever they are

Looks like she’s all ready to leave

Nothing left to pack

Ain’t no room for me in that car

Even if she asked me to tag along

God, I gotta be strong

She’s at the startin’ line of the rest of her life

As ready as she’s ever been

Got the hunger and the stars in her eyes

The prize is hers to win

She’s waitin’ on my blessings

Before she hits that open road

Baby get ready, get set, don’t go

She says things are fallin’ in place

Feels like they’re fallin’ apart

I painted this big old smile on my face

To hide my broken heart

If only she knew

This is where I don’t say

What I want so bad to say

This is where I want to

But I won’t get in the way

Of her and her dreams

And spreadin’ her wings

She’s at the startin’ line of the rest of her life

As ready as she’s ever been

Got the hunger and the stars in her eyes

The prize is hers to win

She’s waitin’ on my blessings

Before she hits that open road

Baby get ready, get set, don’t go

She’s at the startin’ line of the rest of her life

As ready as she’s ever been

Got the hunger and the stars in her eyes

The prize is hers to win

She’s waitin’ on my blessings

Before she hits that open road

But, baby, get ready, get set, please don’t go

Don’t go, mmm don’t go

She’s gotta do what she’s gotta do

She’s gotta do what she’s gotta do

The
Hannah Montana
episode featuring the song aired in July 2007, the same week my album
Home at Last
came out. Helped by the exposure of “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” on TV, the album was my highest-charting record in years: No. 3 on the country chart and No. 20 on the pop chart. Guess who was in the top spot? Miley and her album
Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.
I knew how my dad must’ve felt. I couldn’t have been prouder. And as long as I saw the name Cyrus was next to No. 1, I couldn’t complain.

In October, as “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” was already climbing the charts, Miley joined in on the record with me. I tweaked a few lyrics, and suddenly there were two versions of the song—and it took off all over the world. We performed it on
Dancing with the Stars.
Two months later, we sang it again on
The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Find the video on YouTube—she sings the stuffing out of that song and you can’t get a truer picture of our relationship at the time than when I sing, “Don’t go,” and Miley responds, “Let me go now. I’ll be OK.”

I went through the same thing with all of the kids. Trace had his own band, Metro Station, and like me, he was married to his music. He’d worked as a roadie for me starting when he was in eighth grade, and loved the lifestyle. All he wanted to do was change strings and ride the bus with me. He loved being part of the band and the crew, and he’s like that to this day.

So is Brandi. By her late teens, she was singing and writing songs and wanting to get onstage. When I saw how committed she was, I hired her to play guitar in my band. I knew if she played with Sly Dog, she’d only get better. There wasn’t any stopping her anyway. She had the music in her soul. And now she tours with her own group, Frank and Derol.

As for some of the typical teenage milestones, like teaching the kids to drive, well, I got ’em started early. Like most kids who grow up in the country, they were driving vehicles around the farm about four days after they learned to ride a bicycle. They started on four-wheelers,
graduated to my Kawasaki mule, and then grew into my truck. Just in case we were out back in the woods and I had a heart attack or whatever, I wanted them to be able to get us home. At least that’s how I justified it.

Unlike Brandi, who wasn’t interested in boys until later on in high school, Miley liked them as far back as I can remember. During
Doc,
she fell for the little boy who played my son, Tyler Posey, who went on to star in the series
Teen Wolf.
On
Hannah Montana,
she and Nick Jonas connected instantly when the Jonas Brothers guest-starred on the show. I saw that chemistry happen right before my eyes.

Again, it was art imitating life or life imitating art. Take your pick. But everyone saw they had a big crush on each other and that things just grew to where they were inseparable. I liked him. I thought he and his brothers were very talented… and nice guys. By the time Miley and Nick were together, we had moved again to Toluca Lake, into a large, Mediterranean-style home behind fifteen-foot gates, and one night, hearing them come home after a night out, I hid in the pantry and jumped out when they walked into the kitchen. I scared the crap out of them. It was pretty funny, and we all laughed. That night, Nick, Miley, and I sat by the fireplace and talked for a while. The Jonas Brothers weren’t really famous yet. They were just getting loaded up to take off. And so again, I knew this might be as close to a normal boyfriend relationship Miley would ever know.

They were all over the teen magazines and tabloids. Miley was in the teen magazines and tabloids every week and also pictured daily on the Internet, where celebrity websites exploded in popularity and changed the whole landscape. Paparazzi took pictures of Miley—of all of us—every time we stepped outside. They waited in front of the house, followed us to the store, and parked behind us in the drive-thru at McDonald’s. We were constantly followed. It became part of normal life… if that was normal, though by then, for us, there was no normal. I knew from experience, the teeter had
done gone to totter. People always ask if Tish and I would close our bedroom door at night and ask each other how we were going to handle things with Miley and the other kids, and I say, “Oh yeah. About a hundred thousand times.”

From October 2007 through March 2008, Miley took her
Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds
tour around the world. I toured and recorded my own music. We stayed in touch by phone, fax, and Internet, and spent a small fortune chartering private jets to ensure family time.

But Miley’s fame made even family time newsworthy. At the end of 2007, a photo of her sharing a piece of red licorice with a friend at a sleepover was leaked to a website. Suddenly, the Internet lit up with talk she was a lesbian. Miley laughed it off but felt sorry for her friend who, as she lamented to a journalist, “had to go back to school and deal with that crap.”

Then, in February 2008, the
Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
was released and someone noticed a scene where Miley and I were in the car and not wearing seatbelts. The little girls on the sleepover circuit who made the film a must-see and a box office smash didn’t seem to care—or notice—but the grownups in the media turned it into a major issue.

Disney executives insisted on a response. We had numerous meetings about it. While I never claimed to be the world’s smartest man and I sure as hell ain’t the world’s greatest parent (thank God the Internet wasn’t around when the kids were little and I had them on an ATV without helmets), I understood their point. And actually felt bad about it.

“How about we say we’re sorry?” I said. “That’s what I usually do when I screw up.”

And that’s what we did. We said we were sorry and reminded people they should always wear a seatbelt… Seatbelts save lives.

As soon as that story went away, others popped up. Miley’s cell phone seemed to get hacked regularly or her friends posted pictures
that were taken at parties, sleepovers, or when Miley was out having fun. Were we happy to see a photo of her mooning a camera? I can’t speak for Tish, but at fifteen years old, my idea of fun was streaking through town.

Of course it wasn’t that simple for her. In April, a
Vanity Fair
magazine photo shoot with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz included a setup of Miley from the waist up wrapped only in a satin sheet. When the photo came out… BOOM!… another explosion. Our phone rang nonstop. E-mail poured in. Meetings were called. You would have thought Miley had posed for
Playboy
.

We were caught completely off-guard. Keep in mind, we didn’t raise our children in a bubble. We were living our lives, managing careers and kids, and still trying to hit church every Sunday. Really, we were doing the best we could do under extraordinary circumstances.

Here’s what I remember. Annie had shot me previously for the popular “Got Milk” ads, the milk mustache series (
psst
—wanna know a secret? that white stuff is yogurt), and I thought she and I were friends. And we still are. Annie is a great photographer. We were honored she had been assigned to shoot Miley for
Vanity Fair.
Tish and Miley’s grandma Loretta and Miley’s publicist were at the shoot. At Annie’s request, I swung by to pose with Miley. I was on my way to play for the troops in Washington State, so I didn’t have a lot of time. I took a few pictures, hung out, and then caught my plane.

After the shoot, a picture was released on the Internet. Suddenly, the world asked, “How could she? Where were her parents?” As I said, I was gone. From what I understand, the shot was the last setup of the day. Looking back, would I have stopped it if I’d been there? Honestly, I don’t know. I’d a have to have been there. But who knows, Annie might have wrapped my fat ass in a sheet.

The picture was irrelevant to me. What was important to me was what Miley said. I wanted to know how she was feeling about
things. And
Vanity Fair
’s profile of Miley made her sound like she had a good head on her shoulders. They described her as earnest and sincere, noted she ate a turkey-melt sandwich for lunch, liked both
Sex and the City
and
I Love Lucy,
and laughed off the paparazzi that followed her.

The writer expressed surprise that Miley seemed so “well adjusted,” to which Miley said, “That’s just my personality.”

As for my personality, I often longed for the simpler days when I could be at home with my dogs and horses in the woods. At times, when my schedule became too much, I came right out and asked, “What am I doing?” After
Doc,
I’d vowed never to do another series. Maybe I should’ve listened to myself. Because then along came a script for
Hannah Montana: The Movie
. It was all about taking Miley back home to Tennessee.

Disney wanted to shoot in Louisiana for budgetary reasons. As a producer, though, I lobbied to make the movie in Tennessee. I had all the research and contacts from when I tried to get
Doc
to shoot there. I also had my daughter’s best interests in mind.
Hannah Montana: The Movie
was the story of not forgetting where you came from, and I said, “Miley’s performance will be out of the park if she’s really coming home, if she’s really staying in her room where she grew up.”

My dad had a saying: Be aware of where you’re at at all times. Always know where you are going. But most important, never forget where you come from. That’s what this script was all about. Tennessee came to the table with the proper incentives, and Disney approved. We were going home to make the movie.

The studio put together a great cast, and Miley’s performance was also incredible. But I got the most satisfaction when filming stopped and I saw her step back into the role of ordinary teenager. She and the other kids took the four-wheelers out on the trails. They found the old toy trucks and dolls they’d hidden in the hollowed-out trunks of trees where I took them to play when they were little. At night, they sped off for a late-night snack at the local Sonic. And
we all spent time outside by the fire, roasting marshmallows and wieners under the stars.

A few months later, I unwittingly played matchmaker. I was hosting the show
Nashville Star,
and during the second week this young singer-songwriter named Justin Gaston was voted off. I was stunned. I said something like, “Ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes open for this kid. They just kicked off Tom Cruise.” Backstage, I told Justin not to worry and invited him to look me up if he got out to Los Angeles.

So he did. While visiting me on the
Hannah Montana
set, I introduced him to Miley, and they clicked. From that day, they were inseparable. It became a big thing in the press because he was a couple of years older than her and a devout Christian. He carried a Bible with him just about everyplace he went.