Gretchen Wilson Joins CBS Competition Series ‘The Road’ as Tour Manager
Gretchen Wilson has officially joined CBS’s new competition series The Road as tour manager, and honestly, who better to keep a group of wannabe stars in line than someone who’s…
Gretchen Wilson has officially joined CBS’s new competition series The Road as tour manager, and honestly, who better to keep a group of wannabe stars in line than someone who’s survived the chaos of actual tours?
What is The Road?
ICYMI, The Road is CBS’s newest reality competition about 12 rising musicians as they compete to be country music’s next star. Each episode will feature the contestants as they serve as openers for Keith Urban across U.S. venues. Urban, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Sheridan serve as the show’s executive producers. Other country music stars will join as well, including Dustin Lynch, Jordan Davis, Karen Fairchild, and Brothers Osborne. Together with the audience, they will decide who among the 12 contestants will proceed in the competition.
Gretchen Wilson as Tour Manager
Wilson, who Urban referred to as the show’s “mama bear,” shared her experience on the show with Country Now: “All of the years that I’ve had that have kind of built me into who I am and all the things that I’ve learned on the road, I was able to bring that experience to it.”
She added, “But also, just the family kind of part of it that you do build when you’re out on the road and when you’re touring. I think that’s what really makes this uniquely different from any other show like it, because on this show, these contestants had to ride the bus together. They had to travel together; they had to be away from their families for weeks at a time. They got to experience what it really means to be out there doing this job.”
Life as a Touring Artist
Wilson also talked about the show’s transparency regarding the not-so-glamorous side of touring. “I think a lot of people like to think ... ‘Man, your job is just the coolest job in the world, and you get to go out and play music and it’s a party.’” She admitted, “And it’s really not so much about that. When you’re out there doing this for a living, you’re the one who doesn’t have a beer at two o’clock in the afternoon because you’re resting on the bus and you’re taking care of your instrument, your voice.”
Wilson continued, “And so, for me, bringing that to the table for these contestants was another big part of it. Not just how do you win this competition, but how do you take care of yourself and how do you have the longevity that a lot of it takes that to endure in this business.”
The Road will premiere on October 19 on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.
