Three country music greats are coming together for CBS’s new singing competition The Road, which premieres on Sunday, October 19. Blake Shelton is co-creator of the show, which features rising artists opening for Keith Urban, with Gretchen Wilson serving as their tour manager.
“It was the perfect mix,” Wilson tells TV Insider. “I don’t think you can find three people that are more different than the three of us are, but we all three brought something very uniquely our own to the table that I think was really valuable to each one of these musicians.”
The country legend said she’d spent time with Shelton after doing “a few shows together” throughout their lengthy careers. However, she “didn’t know [Urban] too well” before filming. “We’ve seen each other a lot in passing, always been really super nice and very cordial to me. I think I felt like I knew Blake a little bit better,” she admits.
Wilson recalls Shelton being his “typical self, just hilarious, funny, always cutting up, always having a good time” while they filmed The Road. “It’s easy to be around somebody who’s always having fun and always having a good time,” she adds. “And they couldn’t be more opposite. Keith is the constant professional. He’s all work and very business-oriented and really just stupendous. Being around him just makes you kind of want to look at yourself like, ‘Do I have my s**t together or not?’ He’s just so aces. He’s just so well put together and he’s just got it all perfectly aligned.”
Scroll down for more from our chat with Wilson, including why she got involved with The Road, how it’s different from other singing competitions, and more.
How did you get involved in this project?
Gretchen Wilson: From what I understand, in the very beginning they were going to hire a true tour manager. But I think they got into a room and started talking about how they wanted this to be more of an on-camera role with the musicians, and they got to talking about what kind of a person they wanted. It needed to be no-nonsense, a little hard around the edges, but also not too tough, someone who has a heart. If I hear this story correctly, I think Blake just kind of shouted out, “Well, it sounds to me like you’re describing Gretchen Wilson.” I actually got the call just two weeks before the first filming date, and they were like, “Can you make yourself available?” I’m like, “Yeah, let me move some things around.” You’d be silly not to want to be involved in this.
What did your role as tour manager entail?
I didn’t have to do all of the tour manager duties, obviously. I wasn’t in charge of booking flights and buses, which is something that a tour manager usually has to do. As far as onsite, my job very much was tour manager, or as they would say, “tour momager.” They got used to me after a while and started calling me mom. I was onsite to be there for everything. The minute the kids got off the bus and went into soundcheck, I was there. I watched all the soundchecks, the rehearsals. I was there for any questions they had, any feedback they might want. “Hey, so and so is playing a guitar for both of her performances tonight, do you think I should play guitar?” Those kinds of questions. “How do I win tonight, tour momager? Tell me something that I don’t know.” Those kinds of duties. Then the obvious, just being there with a bottle of water, and being on the other side of the stage saying, “Great job.” It was different for me, but man, I learned a lot, not just about them, but about myself in those positions.
Connie Chornuk/CBS
With this being the first season and this being so last-minute, how much direction were you given in how to take on this role?
None. None. And that’s what I love about this show, and that’s what I love about the producers and the directors of this show. There was nothing scripted about this. There was never even really a suggestion made. It was, “Come in here and just do what you do. Be yourself and give the best advice that you have to give. Just be there for these kids and give them your experience.” Nobody ever told me to say anything. As a matter of fact, I’ve been involved with what was supposed to be a reality show once, way back when, and it was not reality. They would say go with it, and we would go with it, but then they’d say, “OK, do that again, but say it like this, and can you do it like this?” I had to throw my hands up and say, “This isn’t what I signed up for.”
This show was actually what it says it is. We’re bringing in a group of really talented people, and we’re going to see how they do this together. All they did was stand back and film it, beautifully, with 13 cameras. Maybe one of the biggest productions it’s ever been on. I was very aware that there was nothing I was doing that wasn’t on camera.
What was it like on set?
It was crazy big, but also very small and family-oriented. You just kind of forgot the cameras were there. You had a job to do. It was important. I realized immediately that every one of these musicians … their life was on the line. They were in it to win it. This was not a joke. This was not a TV show for them. This is their future. Everything is on the line. I felt every bit of that from the moment that I started. We all did. We were very aware we had a job to do and a time we start and a time we end, but the emotions were raw and real and the way that Taylor [Sheridan] filmed it … this is what’s beautiful about Taylor. It’s not only the warm coloring and the way he shows the picture, but he allows it to happen. He allows the realness to happen, or at least he did on this show. There was no interruptions. It was really beautifully done.
Why was this something you were interested in doing in the first place?
First of all, I think just the opportunity to work with Blake and Keith. These are two people that I admire, and anybody would love the opportunity to work with them. I hadn’t had the opportunity to work with them closely, so I wanted to do that.
But second, I saw an opportunity to see it from the other side. I saw an opportunity to see what I do from somebody who stands there and watches it and is hopeful. I learned so much. I learned how emotional everybody else gets. You might just be labeled as “crew,” but your heart is in it almost the same way the performer’s heart is in it. I learned a whole lot, actually, being on set, just about the inner workings of a TV show, the crew, the production company. It’s not just the people who are going to be the stars of the show, but everybody behind the scenes. Incredibly hard workers. I think there should be more shows like this one where you get to actually see what’s going on behind the scenes. I think that’s going to be the coolest part about this show.
You’re going to get a much better visual of what it’s really like to be us. What it’s really like to get on that tour bus and to drive that grueling 17-hour overnight and not really get any restful sleep, and then have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and hopefully you slept because you have to win tonight. It’s a lot of pressure. It’s always a lot of pressure, and it doesn’t really get any easier. As you get more famous, the pressure actually builds and builds and builds. I think that being part of this show, it let me see it from the other side, but it also reminded me that what I do is not easy. It’s not for the faint of heart. It takes a certain kind of a person.
What side of you do you think people will see on the show?
The best answer I can give is just that I’m real, that I’ve been very real from the very beginning of my career. I didn’t make it when I was a baby. I was 27 years old. I’d already lived a bit of my life, and I’d become who I was going to be by the time things started really happening for me. I’m not good at bulls**t and I just tell the truth, whether you like it or not. We’ll get over it somehow. One of us will or both of us will or neither of us will, and that’s just kind of the way I live my life. Maybe that’s what they saw in me for this. They wanted a person just like that. I always said to people, “I don’t care if it’s raining or sunny, just give me the weather. I can deal with it.” That’s kind of the way I treat people, too, and maybe that’s what they wanted and needed for this position.
The Road, Series Premiere, Sunday, October 19, 9/8c, CBS