Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus had a rough night on the stage as he performed at the Liberty Ball celebrating the inauguration of President Donald Trump on Monday night.
Cyrus seemed to be plagued by a mix of technical difficulties and a hoarse voice as he performed without a band.
The appearance began with the full video for Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Cyrus, with Cyrus on the stage as the video played strumming his guitar, singing along and encouraging the crowd.
When the video ended, he strummed more of the song on his guitar and whistled. He also attempted an a cappella version of the song where he called on the crowd to clap and sing along.
“If you encourage me I’ll keep going,” he said. “They told me to kill as much time as possible.”
Then his guitar cut out.
“Is anybody awake?” he called out to the tech crew. “Where’s everybody at? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on?”
Someone emerged, but couldn’t get the guitar to work.
Cyrus noted that Carrie Underwood also had technical difficulties at the inauguration ceremony earlier in the day, and had to perform an a cappella version of “America The Beautiful” when the orchestral track cut out.
“Wasn’t Carrie Underwood fabulous?” he said. “They had technical difficulties too. And in life, when you have technical difficulties, you just gotta keep going. Or as President Trump would say, ‘You gotta fight!’”
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Inspired by Underwood, Cyrus launched into an a cappella verse of his 1992 hit, “Achy Breaky Heart.”
See the full appearance below:
English (US) ·