“The Road” is not your typical glorified karaoke music competition series but instead a backstage pass into the gritty life of a touring artist.
Executive producer Lee Metzger wanted to put a new spin on the tried and true unscripted music genre after his success on “The Voice.” He reunited with fan-favorite judge Blake Shelton for the project, but assured him the CBS series would be unlike any other on the market.
Metzger and Shelton teamed up with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan to bring a fresh take on the music competition genre. The premise was not to create semipermanent stars but instead make careers. Their teams handpicked 12 artists, working in bars across the country, who would have the chance to open for Keith Urban on tour across the South and for audiences at home.
“For these artists, their careers are not made. Nobody buys a ticket to go see somebody sing other people’s songs,” Metzger told TheWrap. “We wanted to get as close as we could to emulating the real music business and what it really takes to make it, especially now when record sales are not how you make your money. Artists now make money by touring.”
The executive producers were not interested in flash-in-the-pan artists who received a couple million streams from a viral video. Many of the artists are well into their 30s, some with kids, all with significant live performance experience under their belt.
“We had a lot of success as a TV show on ‘The Voice,’ Blake and I and everyone else involved, but we didn’t really build careers for a lot of those musicians,” Metzger said. “The real thing here was, let’s put the musicians first and put the celebrity second. It felt like the way to do that was to let these musicians come on and sing original music every week.”
One requirement was that each contestant had to be prepared with a bench of original songs. For the premiere episode, each artist performed one original song for an audience waiting to see a full set from country star Urban. Each episode moving forward, the contestants will perform a cover and an original to introduce audiences to their musical style.
“We wanted to find people who’ve been doing this for years, who’ve played honky tonks and clubs and toured,” he added. “This is not a fluke. It’s a life decision for them.”
With Sheridan on board, Metzger said they were able to invest in better cameras and technical teams for the series and make it feel more like a concert movie than a reality series. That shows. Each episode the television audience is immersed into the concert venue. TV audiences hear real-time reactions from Shelton and Urban, as well as from concert-goers.
There is no traditional criticism period as is modeled in other talent shows. Instead audiences vote on the artists that wowed them the most. From there Shelton and Urban decide which artist will be sent home from the bottom three and give their feedback after the show.
“In the real world, Blake and Keith would not sit center stage staring down a singer if they went to a show,” Metzger said of the decision to keep the two out of the line of sight in a “VIP section.” “You don’t put your best foot forward when you’re staring down some A-list celebrity who will decide your fate, so we wanted them to sing to the audience – the audience in the room and at home.”
Having the artists work the room not only emulates the real world experience but also sets the singers up for success, Metzger said. It also allows Shelton and Urban to behave as they would and give more candid feedback during the performance. The team wanted to make it feel like fans at home were in the audience with the country music stars.
The winner of “The Road” will receive a $250,000 cash prize, a recording contract, a Red Bull prize package and a performance slot at Stagecoach Country Music Festival next April. But for Metzger, he said, contestants have already won with the exposure they get not only on CBS but opening for Urban in venues across the country.
“This show starts where other shows end: on tour,” he said. “The prize is yours from Day 1. You’re already the opening act for Keith Urban, so your job on the show is just stay on the tour as long as you can [to] expose yourself to as many audience members. You can build a fan base and, hopefully, have a career when the show is over.”
New episodes of “The Road” debut weekly on CBS Sunday nights.
