Inauguration Day went pretty off the rails for Billy Ray Cyrus, who was tapped to kickoff President Donald Trump's Inaugural Ball.
During the Monday night show, the country singer battled technical difficulties and a hoarse voice as he performed without a band. The performance, which has been making the rounds on social media, opened with the full music video of "Old Town Road," Cyrus' Grammy-winning collab with Lil Nas X.
As the video played in full on the stage's LED screen — including dialogue breaks — Cyrus appeared to be playing his guitar and singing along, but was not audible over the pre-recorded track. Afterward, he strummed his guitar and whistled the song's tune, prompting the audience to sing along.
"If you encourage me I'll keep going," Cyrus then told the crowd. "They told me to kill as much time as possible so… Does anybody know the words of achy breaky heart?"
However, when he began to play the song, his guitar was suddenly inaudible. Cyrus called out, "Hey is my guitar still on? I think they cut me off. Is my guitar on? I don't hear my guitar anymore."
When nothing changed he continued, "Check? Is anybody awake? I don't hear it, do y'all hear this? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on, we're gonna sing a little bit more."
The singer was eventually joined on stage by a crew member, though they were unable to get the guitar reconnected.
Cyrus was not the first star to encounter technical difficulties that day. Fellow country singer Carrie Underwood was forced to perform a cappella during the inauguration ceremony, after Trump took the oath of office and gave his inaugural address. She was set to sing “America the Beautiful" with a music track, but only a snippet of the song's introductory notes played before abruptly cutting off, leaving the American Idol alum standing in front of the whispering crowd. After a moment of silence she said "I’ll just sing it," and performed without music.