Billy Ray Cyrus Reveals How He Got Randy Travis To Be On His New TV Show
on Jun 27, 2016
In 2013, Randy Travis suffered a massive stroke, which required major surgery.
In the three years since, he has made just a few public appearances. He can walk short distances and is in the process of relearning how to write and play the guitar.
To everyone’s surprise, he appeared in Billy Ray Cyrus’ new TV show Still The King as the sheriff who chases Cyrus’ character down. Since he is still in recovery, it has left some fans wondering how he was acting already.
Cyrus recently let us all in on a little secret during an interview with Channel Guide Magazine.
In Still The King, Cyrus plays an Elvis Presley impersonator who, for many reasons, is posing as a preacher to make money for child support for the 15-year-old daughter he never know he had.
As he was thinking about how he would reinvent himself following the success of his hit show Hannah Montana, he took a stroll while he was in Louisiana one day.
He saw an old, run-down Pentecostal church right in front of the Louisiana dome where Presley had famously played previously.
The idea for Still The King his him like a ton of bricks.
“I go, ‘There it is right there man.’ A dysfunctional Elvis impersonator who lies his way into a small church as a preacher. I swear it was just that quick,” he reveals. “I got in my bus. I pulled out a notebook. I wrote down Nash-Vegas. Nash-Vegas being a combination of Nashville and Vegas. This was so far back that this was before Nashville has started airing on ABC. Three years ago we made a rough draft of the pilot and filmed a rough of it. Thank goodness we did because that’s how we got Randy Travis to play our sheriff.”
If they would’ve waited just a couple more months, Travis would have not been able to act the part. And if you watch the show, which you should, you’ll know that he did a great job!
You can see the footage of Travis in Still The King in Cyrus’ music video for “Hey Elvis” below.
“Hey Elvis” is the first single off Cyrus’ upcoming album Thin Line, which is available on September 9. You can preorder the album here on iTunes and here on Amazon.
