‘Doc’ Learns to Mend a ‘Breaky Heart’

In the premiere last week of Pax’s new dramatic series “Doc,” Billy Ray Cyrus’ heart was achy and breaky. The 39-year-old country-rock singer plays Clint Cassidy, a country doctor from Montana who had fallen in love with a journalist doing a story in his hometown. When she returned home to New York, Cassidy gave up everything he held dear to be with her in the Big Apple.

But his down-home compassion ran afoul of the by-the-book practices of the HMO where he found a job. To make matters worse, his relationship with his girlfriend also unraveled. But this is family-friendly Pax, so there is a silver lining. Cassidy has found a new purpose with his life when he gives a young orphan boy, Raul, (Tyler Garcia Posey), a home.

Cyrus, who was born and raised in Flatwoods, Ky., made his singing debut in his father’s gospel group and formed his own band, Sly Dog, in 1983. He became an “overnight” sensation in 1992 with the release of the phenomenally successful “Achy Breaky Heart.” The catchy tune topped the U.S. pop and country charts, as did his debut album, “Some Gave All.” He recently released a new album, “Southern Rain,” with several of the songs being used in “Doc.”

Cyrus, his wife and five children live on a 500-acre farm outside Nashville. He talked about his experience on “Doc” from the Toronto location where the series shoots.

Question: You are working 12- to 17-hour days on “Doc.” Is this the hardest job you’ve ever had?

Answer: I am going to be honest with you and myself, OK? This is the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. Sela Ward, who is a good friend of mine, told me, I guess two years ago, that working on a series is the hardest work you’ll ever do in your life.

I have been through a lot of hard work. Even as a kid I worked hard, cutting people’s grass in the Appalachia foothills. You have to be part billy goat to do that. But I have worked hard my whole life and have always known that to have anything in life that is worth anything, it requires a lot of hard work. But I wasn’t prepared for the amount of hours that go into doing this.

Q: How did you break into acting?

A: In 1999, what happened was I had taken a few little bit parts like “The Love Boat.” While I was doing “The Love Boat,” I went and auditioned for a part in David Lynch’s [TV] film “Mulholland Drive.” They hired me.

I play music by ear, but I have always known that I am not an actor. It didn’t feel natural to me. I had to really work and study. I have always been a David Lynch fan, and he said, “You are a natural at this. This is what you ought to be doing.”

My manager and my agent really had pushed for me to get into film, but David Lynch saying that to me, he was someone who didn’t get a commission. You know what I mean? He was somebody who wasn’t my manager. Who wasn’t my agent. It was just a guy who I think is a legend. So when he said that, I said if I am going to act, I have got to learn how. So like a month or so later, the opportunity came up to do this lead role in this independent film, “Radical Jack.” I play a CIA agent. I finished “Radical Jack,” and then I did a film called “Wish You Were Dead” with Christopher Lloyd.

Q: How did “Doc” come your way?

A: In the early spring of 2000, my agent read the script of “Doc” and he said: “This is Billy Ray Cyrus.” He overnighted it to me. When I read the script, I couldn’t put it down. To me acting has a similarity with music. With music, it all begins with the song, and in acting, I seriously believe it all begins with the script no matter who the actor is. I think in music, you are only as good as the song, and in acting, you are only as good as the script.

I fell in love with it. I smile very little in real life and laugh very little, but the script had me smiling and laughing and had me crying. It was just very emotional. It had all of life’s emotions. I was out on the road when I read it, and I called my manager first thing the next morning and said, “Let’s go out [to L.A.] and read for this part.”

My intuition, which has really been my guiding force throughout my life and career, was so strong about me going and taking this part. [I felt] it was part of my destiny, part of my purpose. I always felt that there was something I was supposed to do. My goal was [that] I would make music and, through my music, God would give me the vision and the wisdom to fulfill my purpose on earth.

Q: Have you been happy with how the show is developing since the pilot?

A: I loved the pilot. I thought to myself that a lot of times once a show airs, the writing slacks off, but the Johnson brothers [creators Dave Alan and Gary R. Johnson] and their team of writers have enhanced the scripts tenfold. They really put another log on the fire. The writing is unbelievable. The plots have thickened, and they have surrounded me with great characters.

Q: You’re filming “Doc” in Toronto, but your wife and five children are back home on your ranch in Tennessee. How have you been handling the separation?

A: It’s killing me. So far it has been such a blur keeping up with the work that we are trying to figure out what is that balance there. My kids are in school back home and they have their own things going on, and it would be very selfish--though I have asked and begged--for everybody to drop what they are doing there and come up here. I can rough it through if that’s what it takes for the kids to stay in school and keep their lives as normal as possible.

Q: There was a wonderful joke about “Achy Breaky Heart” in the first episode of “Doc” where Clint says how much he hates the song. “Achy Breaky Heart” was such a tremendous hit for you, but was it hard to live up to that hit?

A: It is a double-edged sword. It has been really, really tough. I had worked for 15 years before trying to get a record deal. If you look in the album “Some Gave All,” I wrote, “Persistence is to the quality of the character of man what carbon is to steel.” My dad told me that when I was a boy. Well, lo and behold, after “Achy Breaky Heart,” I kind of had to go back to that and keep making records, keep being the best you can be.

Finally, with the album “Trail of Tears” receiving the critical acclaim it received, really for the first time in my career, a lot of people began to look at me as who I really am--a guy from Kentucky who worked [hard] to get a record deal, who made his living for 15 years playing bars and clubs, night after night, four sets a night. In 1996, with the album “Trail of Tears,” the truth overshadowed the myth. The reality is this is a guy who plays music by ear, has a passion for his music, writes a majority of the songs he sings and performs.

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* “Doc” will be shown Sundays at 8 p.m. on Pax. The network doesn’t provide parental guidelines on content for its programming.