Recommendations of the Editorial team
At the Stage coachFestival, Noah Cyrus’ performance on Friday evening became a family reunion. The singer-songwriter took the stage with her band, in front of a gorgeous backdrop of moss-covered rocks and green misty light.
She delivered a moving performance of her lead single “I Saw The Mountains” from her second studio album “I Want My Loved Ones to Go with Me,” released last year. After the album’s third single, “New Country” and “Way of the World” – her song with Ella Langley – Noah announced a “very special guest” and brought brother Braison on stage to sing “Don’t Put It All on Me,” co-written by her brother and featuring Fleet Foxes.
Moments later, she asked the audience how they were feeling, shouting into the microphone, “I know you guys are ready for this one – I can smell it,” before breaking out into country single “I Got So High That I Saw Jesus.”
Billy Ray surprises the audience
After the sibling duet, Noah surprised the crowd with another invitation: Father Billy Ray came on stage to perform the contemplative piece “On Our Way Along” – co-written and produced by Braison, who also returned. The song is the first single from Billy Ray’s upcoming album The Hill.
Speaking to American Songwriter magazine earlier this month, Billy Ray explained that the lyrics were inspired by a hill on his Tennessee estate – and the realization that “my whole life has unfolded on that hill and the magic of that place.” He added: “It all came together.”
Noah Cyrus’ Stagecoach appearance comes nearly a year after the release of “I Want My Loved Ones to Go with Me,” which she co-produced with her longtime collaborators Mike Crossey and PJ Harding. The album explores the background and experiences that have shaped the singer and brings together guest contributions from Langley, Blake Shelton, Fleet Foxes and Bill Callahan. A review in ROLLING STONE praised the work as a continuation of Noah’s “course of a left-leaning, unexpected sound architecture” and judged: “It is beautifully implemented – and through and through Noah.”
