Who Won ‘The Road’? Keith Urban’s Crowd Picks a Winner in Season 1 Finale

[WARNING: This post contains MAJOR spoilers from the season finale of The Road.]

The winner of the inaugural season of The Road was revealed during the Sunday, December 21, finale. Three singers (Cassidy Daniels, Adam Sanders, and Channing Wilson) made it to the final stop on the road at the iconic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. They opened up for Keith Urban one last time, and the audience rated the performances to determine the winner.

The night kicked off with a group performance from the trio. Then, they had their solo moments on stage, during which they each sang a cover, as well as an original song that they’d already performed earlier in the season.

Scroll down for a recap of the performances and to find out how all three artists placed at the end of the show!

Channing Wilson

Channing was up first. For his cover, he sang “Ride” by David Allan Coe. “That’s good, man. That’s a good choice for him,” Urban said. “I love Channing because that voice for him is so immediately recognizable. That stomp, beer drinkin’, hell raisin’ music is perfect at the Ryman.”

Connie Chornuk/CBS

Channing’s original, “Blues Comin’ On,” was “written on the Tennessee River one night over a quart of moonshine,” he told the audience. “Love that guy,” Blake Shelton confirmed after the performance. Urban added, “It’s the first time, I think, his cover went over better than the original, from a vocal standpoint. He’s knocked it out of the park every night. It’s no wonder he’s here in the finale.”

“I don’t think anybody has been better, consistently, than Channing when it comes to choosing the right song,” Shelton said. “He gives you the exact right amount of giving you exactly who he is and what he does when he performs.”

Cassidy Daniels

For Cassidy’s cover, she took a risk by veering from a typical country song and went the rock route with a performance of Heart‘s “Crazy on You.” Ahead of the performance, Urban noted, “She’s young, so that combination sometimes sees her get dangerously close to over-singing. I think if she stays grounded tonight, she’ll kill it.”

Connie Chornuk/CBS

Her original, “Crazy Love,” was the song she sang at the first show, which landed her in the Top 3 that night. The performance had Urban sarcastically saying, “She just needs a little more power when she sings,” which got a chuckle out of Shelton.

However, Taylor Sheridan said he was “worried that her first song choice wasn’t dynamic” enough, which Urban agreed with. “[The original] was going to show the pipes. She didn’t need the first one to show the pipes,” he noted.

Adam Sanders

Closing out the night was Adam. “To win tonight, we’ve gotta get an emotional reaction from Adam,” Urban explained. “That’s the thing that’s missing because he’s always working to that high energy level. He’s done a really good job of picking his covers, knowing where he’s playing, how to read a room. That guy can read a crowd more than anybody, but I want to see his heart.”

For his cover, Adam sang “That Ain’t No Way to Go” by Brooks & Dunn to show off his softer side. Urban said it was a “great choice.”

Connie Chornuk/CBS

Adam’s original was “All Summer Long,” which he felt got the best reaction from Urban’s crowd of the previous tour stops. “They were waiting for someone to win them over, Adam had that moment,” Shelton said. “This guy had the entire Ryman singing along with him.” Urban added, “He couldn’t have done anything more than that tonight.”

Who won The Road?

Urban, Shelton, and Sheridan had no say in who won. The decision simply came down to who got the best ratings from the audience.

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The artist who finished in third place was Cassidy Daniels, with Channing Wilson finishing as the runner-up. That means that Adam Sanders is the winner of The Road!

“I should’ve done what I knew what to do … not do two rock songs at the Ryman,” Cassidy admitted. Wilson stepped in with some advice: “One thing that you have to go home with is what that audience gave you when you were up there, completely absorbed with what you bring to the stage.”

For winning, Adam received $250,000, a spot on the main stage at Stagecoach, and a record deal.