What you need to know
Blake Shelton and Keith Urban are one step closer to fulfilling a lucky performer’s dream.
PEOPLE’s exclusive sneak peek of Sunday, Oct. 26’s episode of The Road follows 12 aspiring musicians as they compete to open for Urban, 57, during his High and Alive tour, with contestant Cody Hibbard performing his original song “Dying Breed” in front of a large crowd.
“I don’t know if I did enough to stay in the top three,” the country artist says in the clip. “You’ll see how it goes. I think we made the right song choices. It’s winning over the crowd. You know, there’s still butterflies all over the place, and there’s still a lot of talented artists. It’s not every day that you look up in the crowd and see Blake Shelton and Keith Urban there.”
What did the judges think of Hibbard’s performance? The camera shifts to Shelton’s cell phone, where Shelton appears to be giving his performance an 8 out of 10 rating.
“Even though it’s an original, it feels like an anthem,” says the “God’s Country” singer, 49. “I immediately fell in love with him and signed with him. I wonder how confident he is in his singing, because if he sings a little sharper, he can go even further. There’s still a long way to go, right?”
Urban completely agrees. “He likes to sing in the low notes,” he emphasizes. “They should raise the key. I just don’t understand why people sing. They always sing sharply. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s too low. Just turn it up a little bit and you’ll be fine.'”
Lauren “Law” Smith/CBS
Last August, Hibbard shared a glimpse of her country roots with PEOPLE ahead of her appearance on The Road. “I was adopted (from South Korea),” he said. “We lived in Tulsa for the first year. My dad was picking up trash, and my mom was actually a math teacher. And when they got me, my mom quit teaching and my dad kept the dump.”
After graduating from high school, Hibbard decided to join the Marines. However, after changing his mind and accepting an invitation to the Naval Academy, he suffered an injury to his shoulder that required two surgeries.
“I took painkillers after my first surgery, and I was hooked right away,” Hibbard said. “I wanted more, I needed more, and I didn’t think what the doctors were giving me could be this bad.”
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Eventually, his need for painkillers became an addiction. “I was on drugs, I was on everything. I was behind on all my bills. My ex-husband wanted to break up with me. I was a young father, trying to pay for my daughter’s care. And I’ll admit, I didn’t care. I lost my first home. I thought the repo guy was after me. I thought the police were after me because I was behind on my bills. I didn’t understand how that worked.”
Artisan Image/Ole Red for CBS
But after getting over the turmoil, the country singer emphasized that revisiting dark times in his life helped him create his album, Long Ride in a Short Bed.
“I never cried in the vocal booth, and I didn’t cry much until I was about 30,” Hibbard said at the time. “And I’ve never cried in the studio as much as I did when we recorded four or five of these songs for this album.”
Tune in on Sunday, October 26th at 9pm ET/PT on CBS to see the full episode of The Road.
