Billy Ray Cyrus on Miley's music passion: 'She absorbs everything'

The father of Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray, has praised her love of music and enthusiasm for the arts in a new interview.

Chatting to Spin magazine this month, the country sensation explained that music is very much in Miley' soul and he's proud that she's pursuing her passion wholeheartedly:

"I tell my kids: Make art because you love it. When she was little, Miley walked hand-in-hand with me and (rockabilly icon) Carl Perkins through this field out here (in Tennessee). She was just a little, teeny girl. I’m talking three, four, five years old. Holding hands with Carl Perkins, the hand that wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" and was basically one of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll..."

"For she and I both to have that great man between us… He’s telling me about his philosophy of music, which I absorbed like a sponge. The fact that he said, 'Do what you do because you love it and, most of all, do it because it’s real and that’s your passion'. Well, there were a little set of ears down there connected to Miley’s head, and she absorbed that stuff too."

Watch Miley Cyrus performing with the other coaches on The Voice below: