Reality TV News
Keith Urban launches CBS series with free show at small Dallas venue
A new music competition series on CBS is debuting with a Texas twang: Called The Road, it will feature singer-songwriter Keith Urban, mounting a headlining tour across the South to discover the next big musician — a tour that will include stops in Fort Worth and Dallas.
Urban will headline at various venues, with opening acts who will be judged on their abiilty to perform in front of a live audience.
The series is from executive producers Blake Shelton, Taylor Sheridan, Lee Metzger, and David Glasser, and will highlight Urban and Shelton’s journey to find emerging talent.
A release says that The Road will offer viewers a "backstage pass into the gritty and unforgiving life of a touring musician," with exclusive access to the behind-the-scenes workings of the music industry. Viewers will see what happens when some of the best up-and-coming performers pile into a tour bus and tackle a grueling schedule in pursuit of their dreams.
The special performances featured in the series will begin in Texas, starting with Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall in Fort Worth on Sunday, March 2, and The Factory in Deep Ellum in Dallas on Wednesday, March 5.
Urban will perform songs, including his current single, “Straight Line,” from his recently released album HIGH, as well as some of his biggest hits, at the special performances.
At each location, emerging musicians will take the stage as Urban’s opening acts before he performs. The audience will have the opportunity to influence which musicians will continue on the tour and move to the next city.
Other stops include Oklahoma City on March 9; Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 12; Memphis, Tennessee on March 24; and two venues in Nashville, Tennessee on March 28 and April 2.
The announcement comes just a couple of months after Urban laid out plans for his 2025 tour that will come to Fort Worth in October.
“I spent a lot of my underage life playing in some seedy pubs, sometimes just for the bartender. So I love the idea of throwing artists into a real-world environment to find out if they are artists,” said Urban in a statement,. “Paying your dues sucks, but there are things in this business that can’t be taught, like how to put together a set list, whether to extend or cut a song during your performance or how to work the crowd. For me, touring has always been my first love. It’s where the rubber meets the road. But it’s the only road to take if you want to be a performer.”
Tickets to every special performance are free and will be allotted on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets can be reserved at theroad.castingcrane.com.
Sheridan has been a one-man Hollywood studio in Fort Worth, from his successful Western drama Yellowstone to his new oil-industry series Landman.
Sheridan's efforts, among others, have helped earn Fort Worth a slot on the list of top movie-making cities in the U.S. — setting the stage for Fort Worth to become an "Oscar-qualifying city," one of only six in the U.S., that brings filmmakers to the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
