"Piers Morgan Live, Rewind": Billy Ray Cyrus calls Miley a "very, very smart young lady," and then performs "Hope Is Just Ahead"

Whether you fell asleep early, stayed out too late, or simply want to watch it again, we realize it's not always possible to get your entire "Piers Morgan Live" fix from television. As an answer to this, we offer the below labor of love – "Piers Morgan Live, Rewind" – dedicated and designed to getting you caught up and connected to the conversation.

• Billy Ray on Miley: "A very, very smart young lady"

With outrageous award show performances and provocative music videos helping to send a very clear message, pop star Miley Cyrus is letting the world know that she's all grown up.

Now 20-years-old, and nearly three years removed from the final episodes of "Hannah Montana," the eldest birth-daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus is actively evolving.

"Miley is a very, very smart young lady. And reinventing her stuff, you know, it's that intangible you either find it or you don't," said the 52-year-old country musician. "Finding your sound, that's the intangible, that's the part that you can't buy. You either find it and you have it or you don't."

Joining Piers Morgan for a live interview Thursday evening, the father of the woman born Destiny Hope Cyrus offered his assessment of the reinvention to this point:

"Miley is smart enough to know that to come out of the shadows of Hannah Montana, it really takes something extremely drastic which when you go to that level, it creates passion, and passion is either love or hate," he said. "But there's no middle of the road for passion."

Admitting it's uncomfortable at times to watch his child express herself so publicly and openly, Cyrus shared mostly admiration and pride for the ways in which Miley Cyrus has approached her professional goals:

"For me to think how hard she's worked to get to this point and what a risk just the fact that she went and cut her hair off, that was huge, she could've stayed Hanna Montana forever and made a great living doing that. But she is more of an artist than that and she wanted to evolve and she had to take her time, let that evolution take place," explained the man behind the legendary hit song "Achy Breaky Heart." "She is very, very smart and she's had all of this thought out in advance."

• Billy Ray Cyrus performs "Hope Is Just Ahead"

As part of his "Piers Morgan Live" appearance, on Thursday Billy Ray Cyrus treated the host, and his viewers, to an in-studio performance of his song "Hope Is Just Ahead."

For the complete offering of song number eight from the album "Change My Mind," click the above link, and for the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.
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