Look for “Fire Away” by Lee DeWyze to be played during this episode! To DOWNLOAD “Fire Away,” written and performed by Lee DeWyze, click HERE.
Welcome back to Nashville!
Juliette is on her private jet with Manager Glenn and PA Emily, and backlash over her out of context “There is no God” video is still in full force despite Layla’s press conference. Her PA has had to shut down her Twitter account, and her phone and email accounts are next. Maybe it’s just me, but the idea that there would be this much backlash over a video like that seems pretty trumped up. In this day and age, you would have at least as much backlash to backlash, and country media would be supportive of the real story if Juliette’s team reached out for it.
Back in Nashville, Deacon’s friend offers him a contract with Belcourt Records, because the partners loved Deacon’s material (so did Deacon come up with new songs as his friend requested? and if so, how did he get over his writer’s block?). Deacon is flattered but when he looks at the contract, it’s a smaller contract that he expected. His friend reminds him that there’s less money in albums for all parties, and the only way he’s going to make money nowadays is through merchandise sales and touring. Deacon wants some time to see if he can find a better offer.
Meanwhile Scarlett is up on stage with Zac Brown Band singing “Free” at the Southern Ground Festival (which is a real festival). She’s getting a good response, and Manager Bucky gives Rayna a brief cellcert. Rayna is happy, they plug how awesome Zac Brown is, and she & Bucky discuss demos he sent over to her for a possible single. Rayna says she’s going to have to write the single, and is about to meet with somebody for a possible cowrite. Who is it? She doesn’t tell manager Bucky, but it’s Deacon.
Check out a preview of Zac Brown Band performing “Free” with Clare Bowen as Scarlett O’Connor:
To DOWNLOAD “Free”/”Into The Mystic” by Zac Brown Band featuring Clare Bowen, click HERE.
Manager Bucky meets up with Scarlett and they plug Zac Brown Band some more. Scarlett is so excited to sleep in her own bed that night, but Manager Bucky reminds her she has a performance in Knoxville, radio interviews, and as many meet & greets as possible lined up. Scarlett wants resassurance she’ll be getting a couple days off soon. Manager Bucky hedges, and then asks why Scarlett won’t be writing more songs for Kelly Clarkson, because that’s one heck of a missed opportunity. Scarlett throws that busy schedule Manager Bucky was running down right back at him as her excuse.
Avery is still trying to call Juliette but now her voicemail is full. He’s at the Bluebird, and Zoe overhears his frustration. He tells Zoe that he & Scarlett broke up, and Zoe asks if Scarlett is OK and then if Avery is OK. Avery says Scarlett is fine, and then asks Zoe about her chipper mood as a way of deflecting from himself.
Meanwhile Rayna gives Deacon a copy of the album she’s making with Liam and says she needs a single. Rayna asks Deacon if he’ll write one with her.
Gunnar is at the ASCAP office and smugly tells the receptionist he’s here to finalize details for his #1 party for “Ball & Chain” (the Rayna and Luke duet). The receptionist chuckles at his excitement, and directs him where he’s looking to go. Gunnar runs into Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, and they trade compliments before setting up a writing session that afternoon.
Rayna is listening to songs when Luke Wheeler calls. He’s excited to see her, and she’s excited to see him. He wants to know, considering they haven’t seen each other since the Music City Festival, whether she’ll attend the #1 party that night. Rayna says she will, after all, it has nothing to do with Edgehill. Luke asks if she wants to go together, and Rayna politely declines.
Juliette arrives at her Louisville concert venue, but it turns out the venue has canceled the show due to public safety concerns. The venue owner isn’t too interested in rescheduling either on account of the nature of Juliette’s alleged comments. The venue manager tells Juliette there were 6k refund requests before the cancellation.
Deacon is nesting with Megan, who has a big case she’s working on that she can’t discuss due to client confidentiality. She congratulates him on his contract offer. Deacon mentions it’s a pretty crappy standard contract, and when Megan asks if he can’t get a better offer somewhere else, he says it’s only big acts or acts with “heat” to bring who get the better contracts. Megan banters with Deacon about bringing plenty of heat, and Deacon tells her about Rayna wanting to write a single. Megan asks how that will help with his solo career, and Deacon says it will give him some extra visibility. Without a trace of resentment, Megan says it sounds like he’s already made up his mind, and gives him a playful kiss.
Back on Juliette’s private jet, it turns out she has 3 more cancellations: Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. Manager Glenn is working with lawyers to figure out contract stuff and Edgehill is sending out Will & Layla to do some press to staunch the bleeding.
Scarlett is about to go in for another radio interview when Manager Bucky tells her she needs to attend that night’s #1 party for Luke & Rayna’s duet back in Nashville. Scarlett doesn’t want to because it’s a party for Gunnar, but Manager Bucky reminds her she’s on Luke’s tour and signed to Rayna’s label. Scarlett messes up her city shoutout as her radio interview starts (it’s Chattanooga, not Knoxville) and chalks it up to exhaustion from not having slept in 6 days.
Gunnar is writing with Jay DeMarcus, and their session is interrupted by a reminder that he’s supposed to meet Zoe. He doesn’t want to end the writing session, so he calls Zoe to cancel what was supposed to be his 1st meetup with her friends. Zoe tells him it’s fine but she’s annoyed. When she complains to Avery about this being the 3rd time he canceled, Avery tells her to tell Gunnar how she feels, because she can’t expect him to know if she doesn’t.
Juliette is watching an Extra report about 6 canceled concert dates when Jeff Fordham walks into her home. He lays into her for the damage she’s done to Edgehill and Edgehill’s stock (really? that seems like a bit much), and calls her a “mildly talented lie.” Jeff tells Juliette 10 influential radio programmers have called him saying they won’t play her music and demands that Juliette apologize and beg forgiveness from God and the public.
Deacon and Rayna are bonding over Deacon’s junk food-as-inspiration habit, and they reminisce about writing some of Rayna’s hit songs, at least one of which happened in a rather romantic *ahem* situation. Deacon’s apparently able to play the guitar again, and Rayna wants him to play a particular riff with a lyric she’s working on.
In the Mayor’s office, a staffer tells Teddy that Stoffel’s family is claiming his innocence and has hired a lawyer to pressure the police into investigating his death. Hmmmm…I don’t suppose Megan could be that lawyer, could she?
Avery has gone to see Juliette. She is passed out drunk on her bed and when he and her bodyguard wake her up, she heads straight to bathroom to vomit.
Scarlett is studying for her next radio interviews, and then spills her guts to Manager Bucky about the whole Avery/Gunnar situation and how that explains why she couldn’t write for Kelly Clarkson again. Manager Bucky says he’ll buy her a few extra minutes before her radio interview so she can get her head sorted out but still wants her to attend the #1 party that night.
Avery sticks around at Juliette’s. She is still shaken after Jeff Fordham’s insults, and Avery gives her a pep talk about deserving her success, not deserving the backlash, and still having a great voice and being a beautiful person to fall back on even if her career went away.
Deacon and Rayna are singing “This Time,” which they’ve just cowritten. Lots of chemistry still there and they know it, and both act as if they feel just a tad bit guilty when Megan walks in to retrieve a file she left behind. Megan doesn’t care though. Rayna packs up and leaves after finding out Deacon will also be at the #1 party that night.
To DOWNLOAD “This Time,” performed by Connie Britton, click HERE.
Gunnar arrives to pick up Zoe, and she tries to talk to him about being a little upset that he canceled for a 3rd time. Gunnar handles it poorly, even slipping in an “even Scarlett would understand.” So Zoe ditches his #1 party to hang out at the Bluebird.
Scarlett meets up with Deacon at the #1 party, and asks for his help avoiding Gunnar. Rayna greets Deacon and Scarlett, and Rayna and Deacon get to bantering rather flirtatiously about their new song. Scarlett is not amused.
Avery’s taken a disguised Juliette out into the streets. He has a guitar, so I think he plans on them getting some busking on.
Back at the #1 party, Rayna and Luke greet each other, and are interrupted by Jeff Fordham. Luke keeps the peace.
Teddy storms into Megan’s office because, in fact, she is representing the Stoffel family. He looks a mess. Megan tells him she understands what it’s like to lose a spouse and to wake up and know he’s not there and not coming back. She also tells Teddy she doesn’t believe Stoffel killed himself and wants to get to the bottom of who did and why he killed Peggy. She lets slip that he lost his job at Hollander Enterprises, which triggers a reaction in Teddy. Interesting that Megan’s getting a storyline now that’s independent of Deacon. A good development.
Luke takes Rayna aside and tries to apologize for not being more supportive of her decision to buy out her deal. Rayna doesn’t mind. He talks about wanting to tell their kids about them and wanting to go public with their relationship. Rayna isn’t sure, and thinks her head is trying to catch up with her heart. Luke says he’s willing to wait. He takes a rain check on a kiss, and walks away as the angle behind him reveals Deacon in Rayna’s line of sight.
Sure enough, Avery and Juliette are busking as they sing “Everything I’ll Ever Need.” They attract a decent crowd, a good response, and a few tips.
BONUS: Check out video of Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes and Jonathan Jackson as Avery Barkley performing “Everything I’ll Ever Need,” cowritten by Dylan Altman and Kate York.
Back at the #1 party, Luke, with Rayna at his side, talks about “Ball & Chain” falling into his lap when he heard Gunnar working with a pretty lady on the song, a pretty lady Rayna quickly identifies as Highway 65 recording artist Scarlett O’Connor. Everybody toasts Gunnar, and he goes to talk to Scarlett, hoping the weirdness is over. Scarlett doesn’t think they can go back to being friends after the chemistry she felt when they sang together, but Gunnar seems genuinely clueless when he tells her he was just feeling the music. Scarlett is upset and runs off.
Scarlett’s weeping in the bathroom when Rayna finds her and asks her what’s wrong. Scarlett sobs about having no control over her life, and rails at Rayna about how while Rayna can have weird codependent relationships with her ex-boyfriends, Scarlett can’t. Rayna asks Scarlett what she’s talking about, and Scarlett tells her that Deacon will always do what Rayna tells him.
Gunnar is enjoying himself at his #1 party. Jeff Fordham isn’t interested in speaking with him, but Gunnar bumps into Jay DeMarcus and his wife, CMT’s Allison DeMarcus. After finding out that Gunnar’s girlfriend couldn’t make it to the party, Jay tells Gunnar to make things right with his girl.
Deacon is admiring a Duane Eddy guitar at the Musicians Hall Of Fame when Luke Wheeler drops by to congratulate him on his record deal with Belcourt. Turns out Luke Wheeler has a friend at the label. Luke says he’s happy to see Deacon putting himself out there after he passed up so many opportunities, and that any deal is a good deal in this day and age. Luke tells Deacon he deserves to stand out there on his own after being a supporting act for so long. I don’t suppose this has anything to do with making sure he gets nowhere near Rayna again, but that isn’t a storyline the show has played (besides, I guess Luke Wheeler wouldn’t know that Rayna and Deacon had been writing again?).
Avery and Juliette wound up collecting enough for beer and burgers, but Juliette’s still feeling down. Avery gives her another pep talk and reminds her that people responded to her voice and her music tonight, not “Juliette Barnes.” He sees that she had fun singing like that, too. Juliette is thinking about a public apology before everything really comes crashing down. She calls for a ride home.
Gunnar shows up at the Bluebird to find Zoe. He apologizes, and explains his relationship with Scarlett and why his relationship with Zoe is better. He admits Zoe’s right about her inviting him into his world and him being too caught up in his. But he also says he’s chasing his dreams and for the last 2 weeks, they’ve been coming true. He doesn’t want that to stop. Neither does Zoe, but she says if they do, she’ll still be here. They kiss and make up. And it just so happens Zoe’s friends are at the Bluebird that night, so he has to meet them!
Deacon and Rayna meet up again at the party, and they agree that as great as their new song is, they should probably go their own separate ways for now. He has a shot at a solo career, Rayna has her new label, and neither wants to fall back into old patterns.
Teddy goes to meet with Lamar’s henchman Albert in a bar. Teddy asks if he knew Donald Stoffel and Albert denies it. Teddy tells him he found out that Stoffel used to work for Hollander Enterprises, which he knows from Lamar’s dinner talk was an off-the-books subsidiary of Wyatt Industries. Albert tells him paranoia is a component of post-traumatic stress. Teddy asks why Lamar went after him, whether it was about city contracts, thinking he was on the federal prosecutors’ witness list, and Albert says they would have clue who was on the witness list. He sneers at Teddy about how between Rayna’s crash, Lamar’s arrest, and Peggy’s death, bad luck just seems to follow Teddy.
Juliette goes to church to pray.
Back at Deacon’s, Megan apologizes for not being able to make the party. He doesn’t mind, and jokes that she’s missing all his big career decisions. Deacon’s decided to sign with Belcourt. He’s not going to write with Rayna, and Megan says she hopes that isn’t on her account. Deacon assures her it’s all him. Megan is happy.
Scarlett visits Rayna at Rayna’s invitation, and apologizes for oversleeping and for her comments to Rayna last night. Rayna says she doesn’t need to apologize and she invited her over for a talk. Rayna tells Scarlett she’s really talented, but it takes much more than that to make it in the business. Scarlett has to be willing to be exhausted, willing to show up at her ex-boyfriend’s party and pretend she’s having a good time, she has to be love the music and performing more than she hates all the other stuff. Scarlett says she does want this career. Rayna tells her that she won’t apologize for demanding a lot from Scarlett, but that there’s no shame in bowing out now if she doesn’t feel up to it. Scarlett admits she didn’t start out wanting to sing and never anticipated the other work that goes into a career, but she never anticipated how being on stage would make her feel. She seems resolved to put up with the other stuff, and Rayna says Scarlett has to let her love of stage drive her.
Teddy visits Megan again, and announces that he knows who ordered the hit (on him, or on Stoffel?). It’s Lamar Wyatt. We don’t see Megan react, but Teddy looks as triumphant and focused as he has in a while.
Juliette visits Avery to tell him she’s made her decision. She’s going to need him to write a song with her.
Luke Wheeler comes to see Rayna, and always the charmer, he’s brought flowers. Rayna says she’s been thinking about him a lot, and thinks their relationship is worth investing him. They joke around about power couple shipper names, and Rayna invites Luke to stick around to meet Maddie & Daphne. Kisses and…scene!
BONUS: Check out Charles Esten performing “This Town” LIVE with the song’s co-writer Jaida Dreyer:
