Keith Urban reflected on the challenges of life on the road long before his recent split from Nicole Kidman.
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Urban appears on the reality series “The Road,” which debuted on CBS on Sunday, October 19.
Life on the road isn’t for the faint of heart — just ask Keith Urban.
During the premiere of The Road on CBS, Sunday, Oct. 19, Urban opened up about the realities of constantly touring and the toll it can take.
In the first scene, a crew member asked Urban and Blake Shelton, who serves as an executive producer on the show, about the hardest parts of life on tour.
“Where do we start?” Urban, 57, replied with a laugh.
He continued, “It’s something you’re either called to do, or you won’t last. You wake up at 3:30 in the morning on a tour bus, sick as ever, stuck in the middle of nowhere. You’ve got your fifth concert that night, you haven’t slept, you miss your friends and family, and you’re completely drained and miserable. And then you ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’”
Urban—who recently separated from his wife, Nicole Kidman—added, “The only answer is that this is what I was born to do. This show will reveal who truly has that same drive.”
The Road, a new music competition series, was created by Shelton and Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan. The show follows aspiring musicians as they join Urban on tour, capturing their unfiltered experiences and behind-the-scenes challenges as they chase stardom.
In a press release, Urban shared that the concept hit close to home. “I spent much of my early life playing in dingy bars, sometimes to an audience of one,” he said. “So I love putting artists in real-life situations to see if they’re truly meant for this life.”
Shelton, 49, said the project reminded him of his own early career struggles. “These artists are so wide-eyed,” he told PEOPLE in May. “They’re opening for Keith Urban at a bar packed with people hungry for great country music. It brings me back to when I was just starting out, wondering during soundcheck if anyone would even show up.”
The series’ debut comes shortly after Urban’s unexpected split from the Practical Magic actress, 58, following 19 years of marriage. The pair share two daughters: Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.
Sources told PEOPLE that after the breakup, Urban moved out of their family home and spent most of his time traveling for his High and Alive World Tour.
“Their lives had started to go in different directions,” a source said, adding that once Urban quietly found his own place, “it became clear where things were headed.” Kidman officially filed for divorce on Sept. 30.