It’s 1951 in Nashville, Tennessee, and the king of country music, Billy Mason, is about to take the stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium for his big farewell concert. Fans are looking to his son, Joe Mason, to carry on the legacy. The pressure is mounting and the stakes have never been higher.
While this story may be the basis of the new, world premiere musical, Troubadour, the parallels between the production and real life became uncanny when composer Kristian Bush and the cast performed at that same downtown Nashville venue last week.
How did the stars align for this extraordinary event?
Star Radney Foster and Kristian Bush had been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry as musicians themselves. But over the course of a few weeks, through some logistics magic, both of them were able to utilize one song out of each of their two-song sets to be numbers from Troubadour. Kristian would sing his brand-new single “Sing Along,” and bring the cast out to perform “Hunt Dog Hunt” for his set, and Radney would sing the title song “Troubadour,” and belt out his classic number one hit “Nobody Wins,” accompanied by castmate Sylvie Davidson.
All the travel details were worked out a few days before the concert. But an impending snowstorm headed for Atlanta threatened the entire trip. Murmurs throughout the office discussed the potential for the next “Snowpocalypse.” Driving through the mountains on icy roads and snowy skies would not be the safest obstacles to overcome. Kristian and Radney were driving up a few days before, so they would have no issue, but the cast was another story. A decision would be made the afternoon before.
On Friday, Kristian, Radney, and playwright Janece Shaffer had a media blitz in Music City. Several outlets including Southern Living, The Tennessean and RARE Country interviewed the team about the creative process and how the show actually came to be.
Fun tidbits that came out of those conversations:
1) Radney found out about Troubadour auditions from a castmate in a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child reading in Nashville. He had just started acting lessons with a private coach to continue learning how to be the best storyteller he can be.
2) This is the first time in about a decade since Kristian has written music completely on his own. And now he has an entire musical under his belt!
3)
Towards the end the press junket, the team heard back from the Alliance headquarters. The weather outlook has cleared substantially, but a sickness took out a few of the cast members. Only Zach Seabaugh and Sylvie Davidson were joining the two country stars at the Ryman. Two talented performers about to make their Grand Ole Opry debut!