Gretchen Wilson is opening up about her time on The Road. The new TV show, which will air this fall on CBS, is executive-produced by Blake Shelton, along with Taylor Sheridan. Wilson is the tour manager for the entire series, which has aspiring singers travel across the country, opening for Urban, and trying to win over his fans.
The Road not only showed the contestants how to headline a show, but also made Wilson an even bigger fan of Urban as well.
“Keith performed at every one of these shows,” Wilson tells Taste of Country. “Just aces. This guy is just — he’s got it together. All I could think every time I was watching him on stage was, ‘I wanna be Keith when I grow up.'”
It’s Shelton who Wilson has to thank for even getting her on The Road, since he suggested her for the role.
“Blake said if you want somebody who isn’t going to take any crap, who’s going to tell it like it is, and who also has the heart to deal with these people and their emotions, it’s Gretchen Wilson that you want to get,” Wilson reveals.
When Wilson’s role was revealed, the “Redneck Woman” said it felt like the perfect position for her.
“Stepping into the role of ‘tour manager’ for The Road has allowed me to take everything I’ve learned over all of my years of touring and pour it right back into these emerging musicians,” Wilson said at the time. “Helping them sharpen their talents to capture the attention of these crowds across America, and guiding them through the real and raw grind of life on the road, has been a highlight of my career.”
The Road comes after Wilson was part of another reality TV talent show, this time as a contestant. The 51-year-old was recently crowned the Season 13 winner of Season 13 of FOX‘s The Masked Singer.
Can’t say enough about this experience… I love you, Miss Pearl. ❤ Thank you, @MaskedSingerFOX! pic.twitter.com/Mn0S954vyT
— Gretchen Wilson (@gw27) May 12, 2025
“I decided to try my hand at The Masked Singer because I wanted to see just how far I would be able to take myself,” Wilson explains. “For the first couple of performances, I was very nervous, shaking, heart was beating really fast. But after I started getting comfortable, I realized that I could do anything back there.”
“This show really, it allowed me an opportunity to show so many different sides of myself,” she adds. “There’s nothing wrong with being the ‘Redneck Woman,’ and I love that, and I love being that. But there are many different facets to who I am.”
Wilson’s appearance on both The Masked Singer and The Road is a bit of a resurgence for her, who overcame incredible odds to mark her return. Wilson both contracted COVID in early 2020, which took about two years for her to fully recover from. She also shattered her leg, requiring her to be in a wheelchair for eight months. The Illinois native is only now opening up about her recovery.
“I don’t get on my phone and go, ‘Oh, woe is me and look at me and I am so sad, boohoo,’” Wilson tells Fox News. “It’s just not my personality. So I just stayed away, figured it out. Like I said, it took a long time, but I finally got myself into a place where I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like I’m back.’”
A premiere date for The Road has yet to be revealed.