Jenny Tolman has had several months to process why she was eliminated from The Road, and she’s better for it. That said, Sunday night’s final decision, “was definitely a heartbreak,” she shares.

The Nashville raised singer / songwriter finished seventh of 12 contestants vying for a grand prize that includes $250,000, a record contract, a slot at Stagecoach in 2026 and more. Everything was filmed last spring and — talking to Taste of Country — Tolman says producers stayed true to a promise made at the start.

The Road is different from other reality shows. Taylor Sheridan and the creative team embrace age, originality, storytelling and authenticity. It’s not a “gotcha” TV show.

“My most embarrassing moment,” she recalls, seated in her home-studio during a video conference call, “I had this wardrobe malfunction on stage and I think that they handled that really well. I think they did it as tastefully as you can handle that.”

This happened during Episode 2. Tolman — a nursing mother — was performing when the bra she was wearing beneath a blazer slipped. She recovered nicely and joked about it but also admitted it threw her off balance.

“I got so many messages from women who were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we completely understand. You handled that with so much class,'” she shares. “I think I credit that to the editors and producers that they really do care about us.”

On Sunday (Nov. 23), Keith Urban urged Tolman to raise the key signature of her original, “Married In a Honky Tonk.” It was an uncomfortable ask but she embraced the suggestion and ultimately delivered what everyone felt was her best performance of the competition.

“I felt really confident after I got off stage,” she shared. “And so then when we go to elimination and I hear my name again in the bottom two, I’m like … ‘Okay, this is my third time, this is Billie Jo’s second time, so I’m definitely gonna be the one.”

You could almost see the fan-favorite deflate in that moment but her update is encouraging. Something Gretchen Wilson told Taste of Country about her rings true. The veteran described a reality that’s more honest than anything seen on reality TV.

Taste of Country: What have your DMs been like? 

Jenny Tolman: I’ve gotten a lot of response from “Till My Tank Is Empty,” which is funny because I was honestly on the fence about playing that song because it’s not one of my like best story songs, which is kind of what I’m known for the most and what I love performing.

It started going viral on TikTok with moms. So moms started posting with their babies and with their children to that song to show their love for their kids, which I thought was so cool because the song never started out that way. I wrote that with Dave (husband Dave Brainard) and Aaron Raitiere, like, gosh, probably seven or eight years ago, like way before I ever had a kid. So it wasn’t about that. But that’s the cool thing about music is that it connects with people in different ways. So that was really cool to see, like, “OK, that song really does connect on like a much higher level than I even realized.”

I got a sense that being a nursing mother helped you connect with the audience, but it was also a distraction. Is that accurate?

I think it’s definitely an extra layer of challenge that I had on top of everything else, you know, because every few hours I’m having to find a space to step away and to pump and find a sink that’s semi-clean to be able to clean the parts in.

So it definitely had a whole other layer of difficulty and kind of not being able to 100 percent focus on just the task at hand. I think that I like that challenge and I love that it happened during this time in my life because I think it’s really powerful to be able to show on national television that, this is possible. It is just really, really a powerful message to send that like, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop what you love, that you have to stop chasing your dreams.

On Sunday, you keep saying how you’re not going to be in the bottom two once again, and then you were. How gut-wrenching was that?

There’s a part of you that kind of sees the writing on the wall … because Keith’s audience is a certain demographic and they’re reacting to me a certain way.

And so it makes sense to me where I’m falling in the lineup of all the artists that it’s kind of coming to this time where it’s like, OK, I think my time might be coming to a close here on this tour. But you never want to fully accept that. And so the whole time I’m like, nope, I’m not even gonna like, I’m gonna try to keep that out of my brain.”

I talked to Gretchen Wilson last week and asked her what she would tell you. She said, “There’s nothing wrong with Jenny’s performances. There’s nothing wrong with her songs. There’s nothing wrong with her writing. It’s just that by the time we get here the competition is that much harder.”

What do you do with that?

I think I understand it, because we’re not here to be told if we have talent. And I think that’s what she’s hinting at — it’s not a lack of talent if you go home. It’s just a competition.

You have to connect with a certain audience, and sometimes that audience just doesn’t resonate with what you do. That doesn’t mean what you do isn’t good — it just might not be what they like best in that moment.

What’s the tangible sign of growth or the thing that you’ve noticed since the show started airing that you can take into next year?

I think there’s obviously a benefit of follower growth and the reach is much higher now. But personally, I’ve grown so much as an artist and in confidence. That was something I’d been lacking since having my son. I’ve kind of been in this identity crisis, and the show came at the exact right time to remind me, “Hey, you’re still an artist, and you’re very good at what you do. There are people who acknowledge that and react to it.”

That kind of leads into the new music, because I’m working on a project right now that’s my favorite body of work I’ve ever created. I think it’s the most authentic, the most fun and raw. I’m just really grateful that the show brought both personal and professional growth to me.