Nashville
Genre	Musical Drama
Format	Serial drama
Created by	Callie Khouri
Starring	Connie Britton Hayden Panettiere Clare Bowen Eric Close Charles Esten Jonathan Jackson Sam Palladio Robert Wisdom Powers Boothe
Theme music composer	Tree Adams
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Callie Khouri R.J. Cutler Dee Johnson Steve Buchanan T-Bone Burnett (music)
Producer(s)	Connie Britton Loucas George Wendy Calhoun Meredith Lavender Marcie Ulin David Gould
Editor(s)	Keith Henderson J. Kathleen Gibson Farrell Jane Levy
Location(s)	Nashville, Tennessee
Cinematography	Rodney Charters
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	42 minutes (approx.)
Production company(s)	ABC Studios Gaylord Entertainment Lionsgate Television Walk & Chew Gum, Inc. Cutler Productions Opry Entertainment Small Wishes Productions
Distributor	Disney-ABC Domestic Television (North America) Debmar-Mercury (International)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run	October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10) – present
External links
Website
Production website

Nashville is an American musical drama television series. It was created by Academy Award winner Callie Khouri and produced by R.J. Cutler, Khouri, Dee Johnson, Steve Buchanan and Connie Britton. The series stars Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a legendary country music superstar, whose stardom begins fading, and Hayden Panettiere as rising teen star Juliette Barnes. The series premiere on ABC on October 10, 2012, had more than 8.93 million viewers. The pilot was made available on Hulu, iTunes, and ABC.com before it premiered on television.

The pilot episode received critical acclaim,^[1] specifically praising Callie Khouri's writing, casting, and the performances of Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere.^[1][2][3][4] At the 70th Golden Globe Awards, Britton was nominated for Best Actress and Panettiere was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, while the series was nominated for Favorite New TV Drama at the 39th People's Choice Awards and Best New Series at the 65th Writers Guild of America Awards.

On May 10, 2013, Nashville was renewed for a second season by ABC.^[5]

Premise [edit]

Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is the established "Queen of Country" music. However, her latest album is not selling well and her tour is playing to half empty venues. Her record label suggests that she open for Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), the young and sexy best selling singer of bubble gum country. However, Juliette, seeing Rayna as privileged, purposefully alienates her. Rayna, who dislikes Juliette's style of music, rejects a joint tour out of hand. The two women come into conflict as each tries to get guitarist Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten), Rayna's bandmate and former lover, to sign on to their tour. Rayna's life is further complicated when her estranged father, millionaire businessman Lamar Wyatt (Powers Boothe), convinces her husband, Teddy Conrad (Eric Close), to run for Mayor of Nashville.

Cast and characters [edit]

Main cast [edit]

• Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a 40-year-old country music superstar singer whose star is beginning to fade.^[6][7][8] Britton states that Jaymes is based on several country singers, including Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, and Bonnie Raitt.^[9]
• Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes, a country singer and former teen star sensation who is determined to replace Rayna as the top superstar of country music.^[10][11] Panettiere denies that her character resembles Taylor Swift,^[9] and states that Barnes is instead based on herself—a young woman in the entertainment industry—and Carrie Underwood.^[12]
• Eric Close as Teddy Conrad, Rayna’s husband who, after a business failure, is now living on his wife’s income. He decides to run for mayor with his father-in-law's support.^[13]
• Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne, songwriter, lead guitar player, Rayna’s former lover and Maddie's biological father.^[14][15]
• Clare Bowen as Scarlett O'Connor, a poet and songwriter. She is also Deacon's niece, and musician partner with Gunnar. Works at the Bluebird Cafe which is where she is first noticed and performs.
• Jonathan Jackson as Avery Barkley, an aspiring musician with a bad-boy streak. His ex-girlfriend is Scarlett.^[16][17]
• Sam Palladio as Gunnar Scott, a kind-hearted aspiring musician who began dating Scarlett.
• Robert Wisdom as Coleman Carlisle, a mayoral candidate and Rayna's friend.^[18]
• Powers Boothe as Lamar Wyatt, Rayna's father and a wealthy, powerful and controlling patriarch and local politician who disapproves of his daughter's career as a country singer.^[19]

Recurring cast [edit]

• Judith Hoag as Rayna's sister, Tandy Wyatt, the poised and driven daughter and protégé of Lamar Wyatt. She plays referee to Rayna and Lamar.
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Margaret "Peggy" Kenter, Teddy's old flame and former co-worker.^[20]
• J. D. Souther as Watty White, legendary country music producer and songwriter who counsels Rayna Jaymes.^[21]
• David Alford as Bucky Dawes, Rayna's manager
• Kourtney Hansen as Emily, Juliette's assistant
• Sylvia Jefferies as the late Jolene Barnes, Juliette's mother, who is a drug addict.
• Jay Hernandez as the late Dante Rivas, Jolene's former sober companion, Juliette's former lover.
• Michiel Huisman as Liam McGuinnis, Rayna's new music producer
• Burgess Jenkins as Randy Roberts, a long-time friend and music producer for Rayna Jaymes.
• Afton Williamson as Makena, Juliette's press agent who manages her career and fosters her reputation.
• Lennon Stella as Maddie Conrad, Rayna's elder daughter. It was revealed that Teddy is not Maddie's biological father; and Deacon is.^[15]
• Maisy Stella as Daphne Conrad, Rayna's younger daughter.
• Todd Truley as Marshall Evans, President and CEO of Rayna and Juliette's record label.
• Ed Amatrudo as Glenn Goodman, Juliette Barnes's loyal and protective manager. He cleans up the messes that Juliette leaves in her wake.
• Tilky Montgomery Jones as Sean Butler, Juliette's former fiance.
• Rya Kihlstedt as Marilyn Rhodes, Avery's former manager
• Wyclef Jean as Dominic King, the head of Avery's former label
• Chloe Bennet as Hailey
• Chris Carmack as Will Lexington, Scarlett and Gunnar's new neighbor.^[22]
• Susan Misner as Stacy, a veterinarian and Deacon's ex-girlfriend
• J. Karen Thomas as Audrey Carlisle, Coleman's wife.

Development and production [edit]

ABC bought Callie Khouri's script at the beginning of October 2011,^[23] and ordered a pilot on January 27, 2012.^[24][25] The pilot of the show was filmed in March 2012.^[26] British actor Sam Palladio became the first actor cast in the pilot on February 14, 2012.^[27] Australian actress Clare Bowen was the next addition to the pilot as Scarlett O'Connor in February 17, 2012. ^[28] On February 22, Jonathan Jackson joined as Avery Barkley.^[29] The next day Emmy Award winner Powers Boothe joined as Lamar Wyatt.^[19] On February 29, it was announced that Hayden Panettiere had landed the role of Juliette Barnes, primary Antagonist of series.^[10] On March 5 Eric Close joined the ensemble as Teddy Conrad, Rayna’s husband.^[13] On March 6, it was announced that Connie Britton would play leading role of Rayna Jaymes, 40-year-old fading country superstar.^[6] The pilot was directed by R.J. Cutler.^[24]

The series was picked up by ABC on May 11, 2012, and premiered on the network on October 10, 2012 as part of its 2012–13 television season.^[30] On November 12, 2012 the series was picked up for a full season run, ^[31] which was shortened by one episode by the producers (due to production difficulties) rather than the network.^[32]

Nashville is filmed on location and soundstages in Nashville. The Bluebird Cafe, an important local performance arena, is a frequent setting; the show's art department, headed by production designer, Jeff Knipp, precisely replicated its exterior and interior in a Nashville sound stage.^[33]

Nashville began broadcasting in Canada on CTV Two simultaneously with ABC, in the United Kingdom in February 2013 on More4, and in Germany on FOX in the same month.

Episodes [edit]

Music [edit]

On October 2, 2012, it was announced that Big Machine Records will release all covers and original songs from the series. Some of the original songs will be written by John Paul White of The Civil Wars, Hillary Lindsey, and Elvis Costello.^[35]

On November 13, 2012, Big Machine announced the release of The Music of Nashville: Season 1 Volume 1 Original Soundtrack on December 11, 2012.^[36]

The Music of Nashville: Season 1 Volume 2 was released on May 7, 2013.^[37]

Reception [edit]

Critical reception [edit]

Metacritic gave the show a rating of 84 out of 100 or "universal acclaim" based on 32 reviews.^[1]

Awards [edit]

In June 2012, Nashville was one of five honorees in the Most Exciting New Series category at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the television pilots for the 2012-2013 season.^[38]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Nashville at the Internet Movie Database
• Nashville on Facebook