Recap: Episode Two of “The Road” Splits Contestants in Two

For the results of the week, see below under “SPOILER ALERT”

The new CBS Series The Road showcasing a host of up-and-coming country artists competing for $250,000 and touring opportunities aired its second episode on Sunday, October 26th, hosted by Blake Shelton and Keith Urban, with Gretchen Wilson as a coach.

The contestants compete in front of Keith Urban fans for the opportunity to advance to the next week. Though the idea is everyone is living on “the road,” that road took them all of 30 miles from Fort Worth to Dallas between the first two episodes.

For the second episode, instead of the artists all performing once, they were split into two pairs to perform at two separate shows, with each contestant singing both a cover song, and an original.

Just like the first episode, fitting so much stuff into a network TV show meant the episode felt frenetic. It remains hard to become familiar with the contestants, and you obviously don’t get any full performances, just quick snippets of songs. There’s also little time to delve into the each artist’s background, though time is devoted to each.

Brittany Kellogg, Adam Sanders, Cody Hibbard, Jenny Tolman, Olivia Harms, and Channing Wilson all performed on this week’s 30 minute episode, with Billie Joe Jones, Briana Adams, Cassidy Daniels, Forrest McCurren, and Jon Wood apparently performing on the next week’s episode. Native American country artist Blaine Bailey was eliminated on the first week.

From the start, the flaw the show presented in the first episode reared its head. Keith Urban might have been wearing a Waylon Jennings high school letter-style jacket on the episode. But he’s still Keith Urban.

“We’re not playing for any audience. We’re playing for Keith Urban’s audience,” contestant Adam Sanders said early in the episode. “It’s not about who’s the best singer. This isn’t a Celine Dion contest. This is about who’s best on a Keith [Urban] show.”

It happens to be that an artist like Adam Sanders who’s written big pop country radio hits for folks like Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell is the kind of guy that’s best on a Keith Urban show, but many of the contestants on the show are more traditional country-oriented.

This was underscored when Adam Sanders came out and performed his “cover” song as a track he co-wrote, and a song most of the audience already knew in the #1 Cole Swindell radio song “Ain’t Worth The Whiskey”.

“It almost feels unfair,” Blake Shelton said after the Adam Sanders performance.

Meanwhile, Western-inspired country artist Olivia Harms said, “My music and who I am as an artist, doesn’t really relate to Keith Urban.”

But despite the odds, the Outlaw-inspired Channing Wilson still was one of the performers who made a major impression, just like he did on the first episode. “I would kill to be half the singer Channing Wilson is,” Adam Sanders said, who also had a good night on the show. Sanders also said that people used to to say Chris Stapleton was the best kept secret in Nashville. Now that best kept secret is Channing Wilson.

This show continues to lack a “presence” as it tries to piece meal out personal info about the contestants, while leaving the performances to small snippets. You don’t really feel like you’re in the room. You feel like you’ve got to keep notes for yourself if you have any hope following along.

However, The Road is presenting a big opportunity for some important talent, and has probably already given more exposure to performers like Channing Wilson and Olivia Harms than any other time in their career. We’ll just have to see if this series can find its feet as it continues on.

Performance Songs:

Brittany Kellogg – “Tin Man” (Miranda Lambert), “Back of My Mind” (Original)

Adam Sanders – “Ain’t Worth The Whiskey” (Cole Swindell), “Cat in a Hat” (Original)

Cody Hibbard – “Letters From Home” (John Michael Montgomery), “Dying Breed” (Original)

Jenny Tolman – “Goodbye Earl” ([Dixie] Chicks), “Till My Tank Is Empty” (Original)

Olivia Harms – “Mammas Don’t Let You Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” (Willie Nelson), “Hey There Cowboy” (Original)

Channing Wilson – “Honky Tonk Heroes” (Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver), “Drink That Strong” (Original)

***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***

Channing Wilson got the most votes on the night covering Waylon and performing his original Outlaw country song. It definitely feels like Channing and Adam Sanders will be the two top contenders on the show.

Jenny Tolman and Olivia Harms were the bottom two contestants, with Jenny Tolman struggling to keep composure from being away from her family. Olivia Harms was ultimately the contestant that was eliminated. “I’ll just go back to chasing this dream on the road, and I’ll see y’all down the trail,” she said. She was just too Western for an Urban audience.

With both Blaine Bailey and Olivia Harms gone, it takes two of the more well-known artists in independent country circles out of the contest, though many still remain.

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