Gretchen Wilson on Why ‘The Road’ Has Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Magic Touch’

The Road, CBS’s new country-music competition series, is three weeks into its run and Gretchen Wilson still has trouble believing she’s part of a Taylor Sheridan series.

“Who would have thought after all these years of making music, I’d end up on major network television?” Wilson tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast.

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The Road, created by Yellowstone mastermind Sheridan, follows a group of singers as they learn the ins and outs of the touring life and open shows for host Keith Urban. Wilson appears as the contestants’ “tour manager” and advises them as they compete for a cash prize, an opening slot at the 2026 Stagecoach music festival, and a recording contract.

“This show follows these individuals much more closely than any show you’ve seen like it. And it’s a lot more real life. We’re putting them on tour buses, taking them across the country, putting them in bars. It’s not a built-in audience,” Wilson says. “It’s a lot more realistic to what it really is to be on tour and to be on the road.”

According to Wilson, that the show comes from Sheridan gives it an extra edge: “Having Taylor Sheridan involved in this is what makes it completely different than anything else like it. He has this magic touch of putting all those cameras behind the scenes, where I don’t think anybody else is really comfortable going, and showing all of it.”

Wilson, who skyrocketed to fame in 2004 with her breakout single “Redneck Woman,” says she doesn’t have any designs to be on Yellowstone. She’s more a fan of Sheridan’s Lioness — even if she once stumbled over its name.

“I was trying to list a few of his shows, and one of my favorites is Lioness,” she says. “And then there’s Tulsa King too — I said The Lion King. But, I mean, he might as well have that too.”

Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, and Clever.

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