Co-starring in Roadies are (from left) Colson Baker, Poots, Peter Cambor and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Katie Yu/Showtime
Roadies, the showtime series from Cameron Crowe that debuts June 26, isn’t just about the exploits of the road crew for a fictional rock band as they crisscross America on an arena tour. It also is an outlet for the director of such films as Almost Famous, Singles and the Pearl Jam documentary Twenty to expose viewers to music — and to flex his formidable industry connections.
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Cameron Crowe Comedy ‘Roadies’ Gets Series Pickup at Showtime
“There are so many great songs looking for a way to be heard,” says Crowe, who serves as director, co-writer and music supervisor for the 10-episode series that stars Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino and Imogen Poots. “I wanted to use the show to do that.”
In order to accomplish it, Crowe, a one-time rock journalist and contributor to Rolling Stone, tapped some heavy hitters to help clear the series’ music: veteran manager Irving Azoff and Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis, the latter of whom is a producer for Roadies. “Cameron knows what he wants, and he’s got a team of us to go out and get it,” says Curtis.
Showtime’s ‘Roadies’ Is an Extension of Cameron Crowe’s Love of Music
From such classic tunes as Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” to newer tracks like Frightened Rabbit’s “I Wish I Was Sober,” Crowe wrote the songs into the script rather than employing the usual method of choosing synchs during postproduction.
Curtis says the biggest challenge in securing the desired cues is money — he declined to comment further on the music budget — but added that the trio’s collective connections helped grease the wheels (a big-ticket synch can cost upwards of $250,000 for a cable program). “They gave us great deals,” he says.
And although the Staton House Band, the fictional group at the center of the series, is never heard, the band’s very real opening acts get the spotlight in each episode by not only performing onstage but also scoring their episode.
Seattle quintet The Head and the Heart appears in the debut installment, followed by Canadian one-man band Reignwolf and (in a plot twist) Lindsey Buckingham, who recorded a solo, acoustic instrumental version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Never Going Back Again” for a scene. “That has been really fun for Cameron, to work with these people and set the tone for each show,” adds Curtis.
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While the series has received mixed reviews, it gets top marks for synergy: Reignwolf is signed to Stardog, Curtis’ Republic Records-distributed imprint, and the label will release the Roadies soundtrack on Aug. 26.
This article originally appeared in the July 2 issue of Billboard.