It was released as the lead single from Home at Last, Billy Ray Cyrus' tenth studio album on August 13, 2007.

The song has received different interpretations, although, in actuality, Cyrus wrote the song several years before its release when his middle daughter, Miley, moved to Los Angeles in order to pursue an acting career with an audition for the Disney Channel Original Series Hannah Montana.

"Ready, Set, Don't Go" received critical praise, with reviewers complimenting its lyrical content.

At the time of the single's release, she was 14 and enjoying the success of her debut album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.

"Ready, Set, Don't Go" is a country pop song which merges some of Home at Last's adult contemporary style.

The verses use a chord progression of D-Bm7-G twice, followed by Em and A, while the chorus uses G-A-D twice followed by G-Bm-Em-A-D.[3] The song's lyrics were written by Cyrus and Casey Beathard.

[4] Amazon's Tammy La Gorce commented, "Hannah fans will fall for 'Ready, Set, Don't Go,' a dad-to-daughter song that sweetly underscores the love in Cyrus' real-life heart.

"[5] Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time wrote that the song "finds Cyrus in good form.

[14] The song was released to US country radio on October 10, 2007[15][16][17] "Ready, Set, Don't Go"'s music video was directed by Elliot Lester, and produced by Steve Gainer.

A variety of home movies are played while Cyrus sings, nodding his head and flipping his hair intensely.

[22] The performance begun with Cyrus, wearing an open white shirt with a brown tee underneath and jeans, playing an acoustic guitar that was strapped to him.