Billy Ray Cyrus- Tribute to fallen Kentucky State trooper was 'highest honor ever'

October 8, 2026 InformFeed

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
Lexington Herald-Leader

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — County music artist Billy Ray Cyrus in a Monday Facebook post said he had the highest honor “ever in my entire life returning to my home state of Kentucky yesterday to pay tribute to Trooper Hayden Phillips and sing ‘Some Gave All.’”

Cyrus posted photos from the day, including before the service when he met Phillips’ wife Jordan and their son Knox.

“Jordan was telling me in that moment that Merle Haggard was Hayden’s absolute favorite. She went on to tell me about his tattoo …. “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die,” Cyrus said.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett , Jr. read that same line from “The Sandlot — words Phillips lived by — at the funeral on Western Kentucky University’s campus in Bowling Green on Oct. 4 .

Phillips died in the line of duty Sept. 28 during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 65 in Warren County . Louisville Metro Police officers arrested Emonnie Branch, 51, of Tennessee , in Louisville , after an extended manhunt. A Warren County grand jury indicted Branch Oct. 1 on charges of murder of a first responder, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and tampering with physical evidence.

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