Blake Shelton has dished out on how he came up with his upcoming show The Road with Keith Urban, and it's inspired by his time on The Voice.
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Well, I say how he came up with it, but it was really his friend.
The "Texas" singer recently sat down with us to talk about the inspiration behind The Road and how it came to be.
"I did so much time on The Voice working with artists and being in front of the camera and thinking the whole time, 'How would I do this different?'" he began.
While he was pontificating the idea, his buddy, Lee Metzger, had an idea. He told Blake Shelton, "'Man, there needs to be a reality singing show that's really capturing these [singers] out in these bars trying to win over these crowds that aren't necessarily there to see them.'"
It's a tough feat, and is something that the media needs to shine a brighter light on.
Patrons may simply be showing up at a bar to have a drink, or to see the headliner of the evening. But they won't be there specifically to see the opening acts. Winning over a crowd that doesn't necessarily want to see you is hard.
"So that's where it came from."
Blake Shelton Wants 'The Road' To Be Keith Urban's Show, Not His
"We pitched the idea to Keith Urban," he continued, "and he loved the idea, so he jumped on board."
"He's our headliner."
He then shed more light on how the crowd was generated for the show's audience. "We put out on social media and say, 'hey if you want to see Keith Urban tonight, be here, at this time.'"
And the crowd that generated was immense, spanning "three blocks." They were all there to see Keith Urban, but "they don't know they're gonna watch these 10 or so artist sopen for him."
And this is even harder, considering that the Oklahoma and Texas crowds are "historically tough crowds to open for."
Shelton is pretty excited for the show, "It's so much fun, though."
When asked about his involvement, Shelton said, "I don't mind poking my head on a few episodes and voicing my opinion and helping Keith make his decision, but I don't want to be there for all of it. I'm on a few episodes, but I'm mostly behind the scenes. The show needs to be Keith's show."
