"I didn't know that was you!"

That's something Billy Ray Cyrus has been hearing a lot these days, as people discover that the country star is the voice behind the hard-rocking new group, Brother Clyde. "I grew up in Kentucky loving a lot of different styles of music," Billy Ray tells The Boot. "Johnny Cash once told me, 'You have to make the music that comes from within. Don't worry about labels and stereotypes and branding.'"

His Brother Clyde partners certainly come from a different branding. On drums is Samantha Maloney, who's played with Mötley Crüe, Hole and Eagles of Death Metal. Jamie Miller of theSTART and Snot is on guitar, along with rockers Dan Knight on guitar and Dave Henning on bass. And a special guest is heard on the band's first single, 'Lately,' -- rapper King Phaze.

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But you don't see any of them in the video for 'Lately.' Instead, you see devastating images that give even deeper meaning to the song's dark, heavy lyrics. As we hear Billy Ray singing, "I feel like the whole world is coming to an end," pictures of wildfires, earthquake aftermath, flood and hurricane damage, the Gulf oil spill and even the crashing stock market flash on the screen.

"I thought it was quintessential to this video not to have any band performance ... no pictures of my face," Billy Ray insists. "It's about the world, the human race and Mother Earth. We wanted the video to stay in that realm. We were looking at everything that's happened lately -- the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Tennessee, the oil spill -- there was stuff on the news every single day that reflects more and more what 'Lately' is about."

Brother Clyde's self-titled debut album hits stores August 10, which is also the day The Boot will bring you our full interview with Billy Ray. We talked to the entertainer about several other tracks on the new project, including a duet with Dolly Parton that had the country icon rocking out in the studio. He also talks family, friends and future TV projects in our full interview, so come back to The Boot on August 10!

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