Tracker has boasted quite an impressive cast throughout the show’s first two seasons, with new and familiar faces returning for the drama-filled episodes. But did you know that there are some major country stars that producers have been trying to get on the show?
Jelly Roll
Executive producer Elwood Reid revealed that he and his team tried to get Jelly Roll to make an appearance on Tracker.
“Maybe it goes more toward the CBS audience but we’ve been trying to get someone from the country music scene to come to the show,” he told Us Weekly after the season 2 finale aired in May 2025. “We tried to get Jelly Roll and I think we lost him to Fire Country.”
Jelly Roll appeared in season 3, episode 17, of CBS’ Fire Country. He also debuted a new song called “Dreams Don’t Die” during the episode. Fire Country star and executive producer Max Thieriot revealed that he bumped into Jelly Roll in the bathroom at the CMT Music Awards where the country music sensation expressed interest in being on the show.
“I said, ‘Thank you for letting us have some of your songs on the show.’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, how do I get on the show? I’ve been petitioning online and talking to my people and you got to get me on that show,'” Max told Us Weekly in April 2025. “He said Fire Country is what he really represents. … He called me the next day and it showed how sincere he was.
GettyImages-2214178649 Country Music Stars Who Could Potentially Appear on Tracker
Max explained the process of creating a character for Jelly Roll to play in Fire Country.
“We worked on coming up with a character [for him] that we all thought would be interesting, unique and special and still. It tells some of the story about second chances and what he really represents,” he said. “But [it] also feels different from who he is and how people see him day to day as a country singer.”
“I don’t know [if we will have more country singers]. I have to wait for the next awards show and I’m just going to set up a chair in the bathroom to start greeting them as they come in. But there’s a few that we’ve been talking with for a while now,” Max added. “Honestly, it would be fun to maybe see both [Kane and Jelly Roll] bring their characters back in some form.”
Luke Combs
Elwood also said, “We’ve tried some other people. Luke Combs is a guy we’ve always been trying to get.”
Luke was named the Country Music Association Awards’ Entertainer of the Year in 2021 and 2022. The eight-time Grammy nominee dominated the airwaves with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s "Fast Car" in 2023. They both took the stage at the Grammy Awards to perform the song in February 2024.
Hardy
Additionally, Elwood revealed that Tracker has tried to cast “a guy like Hardy” on the show.
“It is just about trying to figure out a fun role to write for them and then bring them into the show in a natural way,” he said.
Hardy, real name Michael Wilson Hardy, is a singer and songwriter who has written hits for a number of artists like Blake Shelton and Thomas Rhett. He has also released three studio albums of his own.
