Welcome back to Nashville! We kick off this episode on Conan, where Juliette is promoting her new album, Inside The Dream. Conan congratulates Juliette on her CMA Female Vocalist Of The Year win before bringing up her role in a candlelight vigil for Rayna. Juliette plays along though she is subsequently very unhappy that she had to discuss Rayna during an interview promoting her album. Backstage, Manager Glenn and Avery banter about Juliette’s busy touring schedule, and Manager Glenn notices that Juliette seems to like Avery. Avery isn’t sure why he’d mention that but right on cue, Juliette is prickly because she can “hear [Avery] thinking from all the way over here.”
Meanwhile, Tandy has escorted Rayna back home to Casa James/Conrad after 4 weeks in the hospital. Teddy is there to greet her, and promises to stay until Rayna has fully recovered. Daphne greets her mother with a hug, but Maddie sulks away. Rayna talks to Tandy about Maddie’s coldness, which stems from all her confusion over her parenting situation. Rayna says she remembers feeling so lost after their mother died in a car accident, and can’t believe she almost left her daughters in the same position because of Deacon. Manager Bucky visits Rayna, and they talk about Edgehill having been sold. Marshall Evans has been fired with a $3 million sendoff, and the new head is Jeff Fordham, a bean counter business type who has scheduled individual meetings with the full label roster. Manager Bucky says they can wait on that for Rayna (especially to give her time to heal her voice) but Rayna knows she has her new label Highway 65 to protect, and wants to make sure Fordham knows she is in there and active. She’s going to bring Scarlett and Will with her.
Speaking of Scarlett, Gunnar drops off a box of her things at Deacon’s and they chat. Scarlett tells him Zoe will come by to pick up the rest, including the couch, so Gunnar confesses about the torching of the couch and gives her a check to cover it. Gunnar tells Scarlett that their publisher is on him about writing more songs, but he’s really getting stuck on lyrics. He asks if she would be interested in writing with him a little again, but Scarlett thinks that would be a bad idea.
Juliette and Manager Glenn are in their meeting with Jeff Fordham, and he cuts to the chase: Juliette’s album is declining on Itunes, and the tweens aren’t showing up for her new sound. Juliette tells him bubblegum & glitter aren’t doing it for her anymore and she wants to pursue a more mature sound. Jeff tells her her album is now getting outsold by The Best Of Rayna James, so even more mature audiences aren’t showing up for her new sound. Juliette rhetorically asks him if she needs to have a near-death experience, and Jeff casually tells her he’s sure she’ll figure something out. Um, are we forgetting Juliette did in fact suffer a fairly recent horrendous tragedy? Anyway, Jeff invites Juliette to a label roster party at his home, with no press invited.
Rayna greets Scarlett at Edgehill offices, and they clear the air about working together while Scarlett is living with Deacon. Rayna tells Scarlett that if everybody in Nashville avoided working with anybody with whom they had a complicated relationship, nothing would ever get done. Heh. Will and Manager Bucky arrive, and Will turns on the charm as usual, while Rayna laughingly tells him to save it for the man upstairs. Juliette emerges from her meeting with Jeff, and is shocked to see Rayna. They have a stiff but cordial conversation where Rayna thanks Juliette for the vigil, and Juliette says she’s glad it worked. As Juliette leaves, Rayna asks what the new guy’s like, and Juliette tells her he’s an ass.
So it’s a nice surprise to Rayna when Jeff Fordham is all flattery, telling Rayna he’s so excited to meet the artist who built Edgehill and saying that between Will’s demos and Rayna’s catalog selling like wildfire, this meeting is the one he’s been most excited about. Bucky mentions that they launched the label at the Opry the previous month, and were just starting on budgets with Marshall. Jeff says Marshall didn’t know how to grow a business, and he assures Rayna that he has her back.
Back at Deacon’s, Deacon is being his cranky, sullen self while Scarlett tries to get him to eat. Juliette has made an appointment for Deacon to see a specialist about his arm, and Deacon has no intention of going. Scarlett asks him if he’s angry with her for working with Rayna, because she can’t figure out what his problem with her is right now. Deacon apologizes to Scarlett – he’s proud of and happy for her. He knows she’s got the art side of this down, but he’s worried about the business side eating her alive and wants her to be careful.
Meanwhile at The Stage on Broadway, Will is performing Jim Lauderdale’s “Tears So Strong” and going over well with the crowd. Turns out, Jeff Fordham has showed up for his set. Will is flattered. When they sit down to talk, Jeff mentions that Will hasn’t signed his Highway 65 contract yet, and offers Will the chance to sign directly with Edgehill with a national radio tour, top priority, and a full court press at his fingertips. Will wants to know if he can still work with Rayna, and Jeff tells him no, she’s got the farm team, and this is an opportunity for Will to step up to the majors.
To DOWNLOAD “Tears So Strong,” written by Jim Lauderdale and performed by Chris Carmack, click HERE.
BONUS: Check out video of Jim Lauderdale performing “Tears So Strong”:
Back at Casa James/Conrad, Rayna attempts to talk to an uncommunicative Maddie. Maddie wants to know if she’s supposed to treat Deacon like another dad, whether she’s supposed to act like nothing happened, whether she’s supposed to split her time equally between three parents or what. The conversation goes unresolved.
Will and his band are packing up after their gig when Will spots his ex Brent on the phone. Will confronts Brent again, accusing him of stalking him, but Brad protests he’s there with his boss. Will is skeptical, but wouldn’t you know, Brad’s boss is Jeff Fordham, and Brad is Jeff’s favorite marketing and PR guy from Los Angeles!
Manager Glenn and Avery are waiting for Juliette on Juliette’s private jet. Turns out there’s no gig, but they’re all taking a trip down to Alabama. Juliette is going to tape a CMT special and has decided a special about her roots will help promote her album. Avery wants to know what he’s doing there, and Juliette tells him not to get any ideas – she just wants to work on some songs. Well, we’re getting some pretty heavy-handed signs the show wants us to think about Avery and Juliette as a couple, aren’t we?
Rayna and Teddy are having a warm conversation at home, and Teddy affectionately tells Rayna they raised 2 amazing girls, and he’ll always be there for all three of them. Manager Bucky walks in on them, because of course. Teddy excuses himself, and Bucky tells Rayna they need to get contract stuff worked out quickly, because Jeff is trying to poach Will.
Scarlett is driving Deacon, ostensibly to the grocery store, but really to his specialist appointment. On their way, they see a makeshift vigil site with flowers and pictures where the accident occurred. Once Scarlett informs Deacon where they’re really going, Deacon order her to turn around. Scarlett yells that she knows he’s scared what the doctor’s going to say about his arm but he has to see the specialist. That shuts Deacon up.
Juliette, Avery, Manager Glenn, and the rest of her entourage have arrived at Juliette’s old trailer park home. Avery asks a suddenly solemn Juliette is she’s OK, and she puts on a brave face as she goes to meet Katie Cook of CMT.
Meanwhile, Gunnar is trying to work out a song lyric, and is hilariously stuck on a line involving beer. Will, just waking up at 4 in the afternoon, ribs him a little before trying to confide in him about his label options and Brent. Gunnar cuts him off, telling him he doesn’t have time to help Will with his high class problems while he’s trying to save his publishing deal with a song. They start to argue, and you almost wonder if Gunnar’s going to out Will just as Zoe walks in looking for unburnt furniture.
Rayna storms into Jeff Fordham’s meeting with his lawyers (and Brent?) yelling at him about trying to poach Will. She says Will and Highway 65 have a verbal agreement, and Jeff tells her his lawyers don’t think that’s binding. Jeff says he’s just giving Will a choice, and clarifies that Rayna’s back catalog and Will Lexington are where he wants his money. Rayna notices him leaving out her new material and Scarlett. Jeff tells her it isn’t personal. Rayna tells him she won’t let him steal Will away, and Jeff wishes her the best of luck. Rayna tells him she makes her own luck.
Over in Enterprise, Alabama, Katie Cook is telling a two-braided Juliette it’s brave of her to return home after all that’s happened. They start filming, and a show producer’s cue, an old neighbor of Juliette greets her. It’s Miss Carrie (Franklin), who used to help take care of Juliette when she was young. It’s a difficult reunion for Juliette and an emotional one for Miss Carrie, who has made a quilt for Juliette with pictures from her childhood. Filming stops, and a traumatized Juliette has all her walls up again as she dumps the quilt with Avery.
Rayna and Will are sitting at the Ryman together, and Will tells her he never went looking for this. Rayna is understanding of Will’s dilemma, and tells him this is a great opportunity for him to figure out the kind of artist he wants to be. She warns him Jeff is just a businessman interested in what his research tells him will sell the most units this month, and that next month, no matter what he tells Will now, it’s very likely to be somebody else. Does Will want to go big now or go for a career development path that’ll be worthy of the Ryman stage? Rayna says she can tell Will wants this badly, and she says she wants to help him find his voice and protect him as an artist, and you can almost see the fear in Will’s eyes as he thinks about what that would really mean. She says she will always have his back, but will Jeff?
Back at Gunnar’s, Zoe is helping him carry out furniture. He apologizes for what she walked into. Zoe talks to him about what he’s been through, and Gunnar’s embarrassed she knows practically everything about him, being Scarlett’s best friend. He says all he knows about Zoe is that she’s a preacher’s daughter, and asks to know more about her. Zoe deflects, and asks what more he needs to write than his broken heart. He tells her he needs something that rhymes with “beer.” She suggests “souvenir,” “persevere,” “insincere…”
Back at Casa James/Conrad, Rayna is telling Tandy about Teddy holding her hand. Tandy wants to know if that meant anything, and Rayna says Teddy’s been helpful in a time when she’s really needed the help, seeing as she may lose 1 of her 2 Highway 65 acts and the other has moved in with Deacon. Tandy wants to know if Deacon has told Scarlett about Maddie. Not yet but Rayna knows it’s a matter of time.
At the specialist’s, the doctor tells Deacon he’s ready for physical therapy. She can’t guarantee he’ll be able to play again though after his extensive nerve damage. Deacon wants to know what he can do to make his arm stop hurting. He won’t take pain medication, so immobilization through a cast is another option, but that would delay physical therapy. Deacon opts for a cast despite Scarlett’s argument that he should start physical therapy to give himself a chance to play again. Deacon is fatalistic about his recovery though and grimly insists on a cast. Later, he visits the vigil site.
Brent visits Will, and tells Will that he should stop jumping out of his skin every time he sees him. Brent promises that no matter what Will decides, Brent won’t out him.
In Enterprise, Juliette is showing Katie the trailer where she grew up. Juliette says Jolene hated the white, and her mom and dad let her pick the color to paint the trailer. She chose yellow. Her parents had moved to the trailer when she was 3, and her father made her a smiling star when she was 4. Katie Cook notes Juliette has never really discussed her father. Juliette says he is part of her past she has locked away. Her father passed away shortly after he made her that star. She muses how when you’re a kid, you don’t see the bad. She just remembers the happy yellow house. She tears up, and asks if they can cut filming. They do. Avery asks if Juliette wants to talk about it, and Juliette tearfully deflects that she’s just trying to sell records.
Deacon is still at the vigil site when Rayna shows up. He thanks her for coming. Rayna scans the vigil site, and wrly comments it’s as if people expected them to die. Deacon says he sometimes feels like he has, and mentions how there’s no telling whether he’ll ever be able to play again. He tells her he wishes she weren’t the one he had to call, but she is. Rayna says she can’t do this. She says they’ve tried so many times together and keep hurting each other, that they didn’t die in that accident, and maybe that’s a sign they can move forward. But, she says, they each have to save themselves first. Rayna is tender but firm, and Deacon is emotional but nods. She returns the engagement ring Deacon bought her, and drives away. Deacon tosses the ring into the vigil.
At Casa James/Conrad, Rayna has a difficult conversation with Teddy, telling him she thinks he should move out and let Tandy help her take care of everything. Teddy says he knows they’re not getting back together, but he misses their family. Rayna says she misses their family too, but she’s afraid they’ll spend the next 6 months being polite to each other, not signing the divorce papers, telling themselves they’re doing this for the girls, but confusing the girls and confusing themselves. Rayna says that would be the easy way, but not the right way. Teddy is disappointed but doesn’t argue. Rayna is emotional as their conversation ends, and then we see that Daphne overheard the whole conversation.
Deacon is going to sell off all his guitars, except one that’s a gift he has to return. Scarlett tells him he’s a fool, and when Deacon insults her by saying if she wants somebody to nag, she needs to find a new boyfriend, she finally goes off on him. She says she’s spent her life watching Deacon trying not to become the man his father was, an angry, bitter old drunk but that’s exactly what he is now. What was so worth throwing away 13 years of sobriety, she asks? Deacon tells her he’s Maddie Conrad’s biological father, that Rayna didn’t tell him because he’s a drunk, so now he doesn’t have Rayna, he doesn’t have his music, and he has nothing.
Daphne tells Maddie she overheard Teddy saying he’s moving back out, dashing Daphne’s “stupid fantasy” that their parents would get back together. Maddie tells Daphne it’s them against the world now. Rayna sees her daughters embracing, and talks to Tandy about what a disaster her attempts to talk to Maddie have been. Rayna is thinking about skipping the label party that night, but Tandy says it will take some time, so there’s no point in skipping the party. She encourages Rayna to stand her ground and close the deal with Will.
Back at the Bluebird, it’s open mic night, and Gunnar performs “Adios, Old Friend.” Will whispers to Zoe that he thought Gunnar had writer’s block. Zoe says he apparently worked it out. Will says there’s nothing like heartbreak to break writer’s block. Zoe tells him the song’s about his brother. Will is genuinely impressed by the song.
To DOWNLOAD “Adios Old Friend,” written by Brett Eldredge and Kim Tribble, and performed by Sam Palladio, click HERE.
FUN FACT: Brett Eldredge originally recorded this song for his own album, with Lee Ann Womack on harmony vocals. That was back when he had a song called “Raymond” climbing the charts in 2010. “Raymond” peaked outside the t20 (at #23), which wasn’t enough for Atlantic Nashville to release Brett Eldredge. A follow-up single, “It Ain’t Gotta Be Love” peaked at #46. It wasn’t until “Don’t Ya” took the long road to becoming a #1 hit (it peaked in August 2013) that Atlantic Nashville was ready to release his debut album. That album does not include “Adios, Old Friend.”
While Gunnar sings, we see Juliette and Avery watching her CMT special at her house. Avery tells her she doesn’t have tell her sad story just to sell records. Juliette smirks that everybody in this town does because it sells records. Her single just hit #1 at Itunes after the special aired. Avery tells her to just be careful because these things have a way of coming around and biting you in the ass. Juliette wants to know why he cares so much. Avery says it’s because they’re friends. Juliette seems surprised but agrees. They have a little laugh over that.
At the Bluebird, Will congratulates Gunnar on his song. Will says he’s written 2 songs since arriving in town and they both sucked. Gunnar disagrees, but Will says he (Will) is just a performer, while Gunnar is a great songwriter, even without Scarlett. Gunnar thanks him. Will excuses himself, which means he’s got new clarity on which way he’s going to go record deal-wise.
Sure enough, as we find out at Jeff’s Edgehill party, Will has chosen to sign with Edgehill. Rayna finds out by overhearing Jeff’s congratulations to Will. Juliette arrives at Jeff’s party with Avery, where she brags to Jeff about hitting #1 at Itunes. Jeff congratulates her and introduces her to his newest signee, Layla Grant, a lovely young brunette. She finished 2nd on American Hitmaker. Layla is all bubbly and OMG at the ride she’s on. Juliette is all smiles and passive-aggressive about Layla’s reality show background, and she snarks behind Layla’s back to Jeff about not being able to get the winner. Jeff is amused.
At Deacon’s, Scarlett tells Deacon to man up and work on rehabbing his arm before heading out to the Edgehill party.
At the party, Will finds Rayna and Manager Bucky, apologizing to them for choosing Edgehill. Rayna is a pro about it. Will tells her he’s not an artist, he’s a performer who’s good at singing other people’s songs, which is going to be code for not facing who he really is for the sake of stardom. Rayna disagrees and tells him to watch his back. Will is respectful and thanks her again.
Scarlett and Avery run into each other at the Edgehill party. Avery explains he’s there with Juliette, and Scarlett seems a little skeptical when he says they’re just friends. Avery asks about Deacon, and Scarlett says she honestly doesn’t know how he is. Cut to Deacon sawing off his cast. He has started his fight to play the guitar again.
Jeff takes the stage to introduce Layla, who just claimed the #1 single at Itunes, an announcement that nearly causes Juliette to spit out her drink. Rayna asks if this is the girl who won the singing competition. Juliette says she came in 2nd. Layla, hilariously, is going to sing the song she performed on the show, a “Juliette Barnes classic,” called “Gonna Get Even.” It’s a very poppy tune, which is shocking considering it is written by Al Anderson, Pat McLaughlin, and Kacey Musgraves. Rayna and Scarlet are amused and kind of unimpressed. There really isn’t anything country about this girl. Juliette is offended and wants to know if this girl is 12. Jeff, walking by with a couple of drinks, says she’s 19 and a big hit among the tweens. Avery comments to Juliette that Jeff’s an ass. Rayna wonders to Manager Bucky whether she belongs at Edgehill anymore. Manager Bucky says to Rayna she can’t throw away her relationship with the label she built just because Jeff wounded her pride. He reminds her pride comes before fall. Rayna says it also comes before victory. Jeff and Rayna share a distant cheers.
To DOWNLOAD “Gonna Get Even,” cowritten by Al Anderson, Pat McLaughlin, and Kacey Musgraves and performed by Aubrey Peeples, click HERE.
Check out “Nashville: On The Record” with “Gonna Get Even” cowriters Al Anderson and Pat McLaughlin with Aubrey Peeples:
Check out Aubrey Peeples performing “Gonna Get Even” acoustically with Al Anderson and Pat McLaughlin:
