Success in Canada is hard enough, but making it in the U.S. as a recording artist can be a particularly daunting experience.

The difficulty of the task fuels the new GAC reality series The Road Hammers, which follows a band from north of the border as it tries to break into America's top tier. The band features Jason McCoy, who's twice won the Canadian Country Music Association's Top Male Vocalist Award, plus Clayton Bellamy, Chris Byrne and Corbett Frasz.

Fellow Canadian Jason Priestley directed the eight-part series, in which the Road Hammers uprooted themselves, tried to get a U.S. recording deal and hit Nashville without a single friend waiting for them. And they discovered that they have to weigh their desire to succeed against their integrity as musicians. It's not an easy road, and it's left the band members frustrated at times over the hurdles they've encountered.

"There better be a payoff at the end of this whole thing," Corbett insists.

The show is similar in concept to a GAC series dedicated to Taylor Swift at the beginning of her career. The Road Hammers premieres June 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET.