Maybe you saw the first episode of The Road last night. Twelve country music singers are Keith Urban's opening act It's a tough gig they have undertaken. They will go from one venue to another, with the number of aspirants getting whittled down week by week. On the first installment of the program, the performers had to sing an original song for an audience at a venue in Fort Worth, Texas. The crowd was able to rate them. Urban, and Executive Producer Blake Shelton, tossed in their own evaluations. The eventual champ lands a recording contract, will appear at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival next year, and totes home a cool $250,000, per TV Insider.
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The show is also a comeback of sorts for Gretchen Wilson. She is the tour manager and mentor to the hopefuls on this journey. The "Redneck Woman" singer, 52, said per People, "I kind of had a little bit of a hiatus. I broke my leg and was down and out for a little while and I started thinking to myself, I didn't know whether it was time to just hang it up or if I had a few more years in me. If there's such a thing at my age, at 52, as getting a second chance at it all, that's what I feel like is happening right now. So I just feel blessed."
Wilson Dished About Her Function on the Show
There are pros with stellar credentials on this program. One is Taylor (Yellowstone) Sheridan, who is one of the exec producers. Another is Wilson. She explained, "They needed somebody to come in that would be the liaison between Blake and Keith and all of the contestants. Somebody who would be a little bit more in the dugout with them."
Wilson went on. "It was all-encompassing, but it went from being the tour manager to sort of being the tour momager. That's what everybody was calling me. You don't travel around for that long with a group of people without getting really close and really rooting for them."
She Felt the Contestants' Passion
Wilson got to know the singers, yet she couldn't get overly chummy with them. Staying neutral was not always easy. When people were inevitably cut from the competition, that was also challenging for her to witness. Still, their intense ambition rubbed off on Wilson in a good way. "Watching the fire and just the want in these kids... These contestants were all so very talented and just amazing to work with. They lit a bit of a fire in me."
She lauded their authenticity. "Exactly who you think they're going to be, that's who they are. And very professional, very talented, easygoing. And that's the thing that I really loved about this triple pairing of me and Keith and Blake. We really have all the experience, but we also have a heart."
