Welcome back to Nashville! Well, Minneapolis, where Layla Grant has added a song to her opening set. She dons a guitar and dedicates “Tell Me” to Will (who walks out) while Juliette grouses in her dressing room to Manager Glenn about Layla’s fake “ya’ll” (she’s actually from Connecticut) and the higher union fees and delays that result from Layla’s longer set. Manager Glenn tells Juliette he’ll work it out with Layla’s manager. Charlie Wentworth walks in, telling Manager Glenn he’s there on festival business. Turns out Juliette told him she needed time to think about his declaration of love, and it’s been a week. Charlie says he wants to build a life with her, but Juliette harnesses that hope people might have for her character when she tells him she doesn’t believe him and thinks he just likes games.
To DOWNLOAD “Tell Me,” cowritten by Jaida Dreyer, Cory Mayo, Andrew Rollins, and Jody Stevens and performed by Aubrey Peeples, click HERE.
Check out “Nashville: On The Record” featuring Jaida Dreyer, Cory Mayo, Andrew Rollins, and Jody Stevens plus Aubrey Peeples, studio producer Ross Copperman, and music supervisor Frankie Pine
Check out songwriters Jaida Dreyer, Andrew Rollins, Cory Mayo, and Jody Stevens performing “Tell Me” acoustically:
Check out Aubrey Peeples performing “Tell Me” acoustically:
Check out an extended performance clip of Aubrey Peeples performing “Tell Me” as Layla James:
Back in Nashville hall, Maddie, Teddy, and Rayna are having a friendly gathering after Rayna has dropped Daphne off for a big trip to Washington DC. There are over 50 acts performing at the upcoming Music City Festival, including Juliette. Teddy and Rayna joke about Juliette being the face of the festival, and Rayna thanks him for making room for Scarlett at the festival. Maddie is excited about her all access pass to the festival. Then she throws what turns out to be a doozie on Teddy: she wants to both Teddy and Rayna’s permission to take guitar lessons from Deacon. Teddy is instantly defensive, and wants to speak to Rayna in private about that.
Meanwhile at the Tulsa BOK Center, Scarlett is milling around backstage. Gunnar walks by with a greeting, and sneaks a flirty phone call with Zoe, who is at the Bluebird. Scarlett calls Avery, who, wouldn’t ya know, is merely feet away from Zoe at the Bluebird! Scarlett tells Avery they’re headed to St. Louis tomorrow and have a free day. She’s feeling lonely, and especially misses Zoe’s phone calls. Avery suggests he & Zoe road trip out to St. Louis to join Scarlett. Scarlett loves the idea. Zoe and Gunnar (in secret) have no choice but to agree to the plan.
Teddy and Rayna talk about Maddie’s request. Rayna assures Teddy that he’s not being replaced but she doesn’t think it makes sense to keep Maddie and Deacon separated. Deacon later gets a text from Maddie that they said yes to the guitar lessons. He is happily shacked up with Megan, and she asks him how he feels about those guitar lessons. Deacon says he’s known Maddie for 13 years and he knows how to play guitar, so it should be fine.
Teddy and Rayna talk about Maddie’s request. Rayna assures Teddy that he’s not being replaced but she doesn’t think it makes sense to keep Maddie and Deacon separated. Deacon later gets a text from Maddie that they said yes to the guitar lessons. He is happily shacked up with Megan, and she asks him how he feels about those guitar lessons. Deacon says he’s known Maddie for 13 years and he knows how to play guitar, so it should be fine.
Will is drinking it up with his buddies, and requests a honky tonker called “Gunslinger” by Keni Thomas. Layla finds him, notes his drunkenness and tells people they have an early morning radio show and need to turn in. But Will’s ready to put on a show, and gets on top of the bar and stumbles around for his performance. Layla walks out, right before Will jumps into a crowd surf, only to fall flat on his face. Heh.
Juliette finishes a successful set in Minneapolis, and is eager to get home. Glenn is happy too, except he’s ready for that Music City Festival to be over, especially the part where he deals with the mayor, and overly involved sponsor Charlie Wentworth. Charlie is still calling Juliette constantly. This time, he reveals to her via Extra that he’s filed for divorce from Olivia.
After receiving a collect call from Lamar, Rayna goes to see him in jail. He apologizes for involving her, and tells her his attornies have scheduled a hearing to move him from jail to house arrest. He needs character witnesses, and hasn’t been able to reach Tandy (gee, I wonder why?). He asks Rayna to ask her for him.
In St. Louis, Scarlett eagerly hugs Zoe then kisses Avery when they arrive. Gunnar walks up and awkward greetings ensue. Scarlett has a quick rehearsal, so Gunnar is going to show Zoe and Avery around.
Rayna catches Tandy up on their father, who is not looking well. Tandy tells Rayna she’s not eager to testify, but Rayna is worried about their father and thinks Tandy should think about it. Rayna is also thinking about whether to support Lamar in court (without testifying).
Will gets checked up by the doctor, while an understandably annoyed Layla watches on. The doctor clears Will to perform that night but their radio interview is cancelled. Brent walks in and asks what happened. He tells Will he heard reports of Will getting into a fistfight in Houston (so I guess he doesn’t know it was with the guys who were harrassing Brent & his boyfriend). Brent is going to have to serve as Will’s babysitter, and tells Will the label would like for him to stay alive long enough to record an album. He also tells Will to fix things with Layla.
Teddy comes back to his home with Peggy after a run, and is in a crappy mood. He apologizes to Peggy for that and asks if he can get her anything. Peggy is still grieving the loss of their child. Teddy promises her that one day she’ll feel the magic of pregnancy again. Peggy tries to cheer Teddy up over his Deacon issues, saying today is about Maddie and Teddy being able to be a proud daddy.
Charlie visits Juliette and flatters her about her being royalty. You can see Juliette melting as she says she likes the way Charlie sees her. *sigh*
Meanwhile in St. Louis, Avery is impressed by the Luke Wheeler lounge Gunnar has shown him and Zoe. Gunnar asks Avery about him and Scarlett, and Avery confirms it. He excuses himself to go to the restroom. Gunnar and Zoe take that opportunity to reconnect and declare themselves a “thing” (technical term), narrowly avoiding being caught by a conveniently clueless Avery.
Rayna drops Daphne off for her guitar lesson with Deacon. She’ll come back later to pick her up. During their lesson, Maddie tells Deacon how much she loves his debut album, and wonders why he hasn’t made another one. He tells her he just got busy playing for her mom. But he says he might make one again now. He’s scheduled to play a set at the Music City Festival, it seems! Scarlett says she’s scheduled to play a song at a kid’s open mic night, and invites Deacon there. What could possibly go wrong?
Charlie and Juliette are now on publicly friendly terms as they walk around backstage. Juliette complains to Charlie about the Layla situation, and he encourages her to do what she wants. Juliette informs Layla that she thinks the show would work better if a male played between 2 women, and that Layla’s set will now precede Will’s. Layla knows a demotion when she sees one, and tries to apologize for her extended set. Juliette says Layla’s just overtired and the earlier set will let her get to bed a little earlier. Juliette walks off arm-in-arm with Charlie after her little triumph.
Will joins Layla at the craft services table, where she tells him about their flipped sets. He apologizes for being a jackass the previous night, and Layla tells him she knows how he can make it up to her.
Tandy is meeting with the federal prosecutor and discussing her difficulty not being able to talk to her sister and her concern about her father’s health. The federal prosecutor tells her that if she appears on Lamar’s behalf, the prosecutors will have no choice but to reveal her as their star witness (which reminds me, exactly how long does Tandy think she can keep this up without testifying against her father?).
A frustrated Manager Glenn greets Juliette in her dressing room and informs her Layla and Will will now close his set with a duet. Juliette is angry, and Manager Glenn tells her he had been handling the situation. Layla is 19 years old, he tells her, sometimes she’ll do 19 year old things. He also warns Juliette that Charlie Wentworth has a way of bringing out the worst in her. Yes, this is Dante all over again – wins over Juliette with flattery, makes her overstep her bounds and do dumb things at odds with her business savvy, lather, rinse, repeat. Juliette exasperatedly tells Manager Glenn that he can go work with Layla since she’s the appropriate age for being handled by a disappointed daddy, but more in a sarcastic way than a “you’re fired!” way. For now.
Peggy overeagerly greets Rayna when she arrives for the Two Old Hippies benefit where Maddie will perform, telling Rayna they’ve saved Rayna a seat so Maddie only has to look in 1 place to see her family. Rayna smiles and nods, and then Teddy spots Deacon walking up. Rayna doesn’t know what he’s doing there.
Charlie once again visits Juliette in her dressing room to pump her up with flattery as she ponders her Layla problem. He promises to visit her the next day in Nashville.
Scarlett walks in on Zoe, Gunnar, and Avery chuckling over cards and beer in the lounge. She’d love to have some girl time with Zoe, but Zoe is having fun bantering with the boys. Scarlett feels left out.
Maddie invites Deacon up to sing “A Life That’s Good” with her since her sister isn’t there to sing it with her. Teddy sulks but smiles when prompted to by Peggy. After the performance, Teddy and Deacon get into a heated confrontation outside hurling insults about each other’s failures, and Maddie catches the tail end of it. She runs off, followed closely by Rayna, while Teddy and Deacon look appropriately embarrassed.
The next phase of Juliette’s plan to put Layla in her place involves grabbing the mic from her just as she’s about to take the stage with Will and singing “Can’t Say No To You” (written by Sarah Buxton, Jedd Hughes, and Gordie Sampson) will Will. Layla is in tears when she’s done, and Manager Glenn and Brent are giving Juliette that look as she gets off stage. Hilariously, Juliette’s reaction is “What? She…started it!” LOL.
Pre-order The Music Of ‘Nashville’ (Original Soundtrack) – Season 2, Volume 1 HERE (the soundtrack features “Can’t Say No To You,” and more songs from this season of Nashville.
BONUS: Check out video of Sarah Buxton and Jedd Hughes performing “Can’t Say No To You”:
Back at their home Peggy call Teddy out on behavior that goes beyond concerns for Maddie’s wellbeing or a crappy mood. Teddy finally admits Deacon is Maddie’s biological father and apologizes for not telling Peggy. Peggy is shocked but understanding.
Deacon is venting to Megan and wondering about his legal options. Megan agrees that he has them but wants him to make sure he is ready to be a permanent part of Maddie’s life before he does anything.
Avery and Scarlett are cuddling and Scarlett tries to talk to Avery about her loneliness. He tries to help but they’re not quite connecting. Scarlett just wants to watch TV.
Zoe’s been working out, and visits Gunnar to tell him she has to tell Scarlett about them. That’s delayed first by Gunnar and Zoe not being able to keep their hands off each other. Then, when Zoe finally goes to see Scarlett, Scarlett confides in her about her loneliness and how she feels like she doesn’t belong. Zoe tells her that’s exactly how she felt when she 1st arrived in Nashville, despite having Scarlett. She assures Scarlett it’ll get better and apparently figures this is not the time to fess up about her relationship with Gunnar. Much better for Scarlett to find out on her own, as we all know will happen, right?
Maddie talks to Rayna about how awful she feels about what happened that day. She questions why if Teddy and Deacon love her they would behave this way around and about each other. Rayna says she’s learned that people make mistakes and do things that hurt the people around them, but it doesn’t mean they love you any less.
Will comes offstage and tells Brent he had nothing to do with the last minute switch. Brent understands and is supportive. Will says he can’t figure out whether he’s going to get the all-business version of Brent or the sympathetic friend version of Brent. Brent says he’s both, and Will smiles, saying he’s off to go check on his girlfriend. On his way, he sees Juliette, who asks him what he sees in her. She realizes it’s just a showmance. Will says one day he hopes to find the person who will help him to be the best version of himself. This gets Juliette thinking.
Tandy is a no-show at Lamar’s hearing, but Rayna gets up to testify to Lamar’s attachment to his family as reason he’s not a flight risk. Despite Rayna’s heartfelt testimony (and celebrity appeal), the judge denies Lamar house arrest, so it’s back to jail he goes.
Juliette is on her private jet. She is still thinking about the best version of herself. So who’s she going to call? Avery. How about them writer anvils?
Avery sees his missed call from Juliette when Scarlet walks up. Scarlett and Avery are having an awkward morning conversation as he apologizes for not being able to help her work through her loneliness. He wonders where Zoe is, and Scarlett goes to find her. Naturally, she walks in on Gunnar and Zoe kissing, and they see her seeing them. Who saw that coming (other than everybody?).
Rayna sits Teddy and Deacon down for a talk, and of course Teddy and Deacon immediately start bickering. Rayna doesn’t have a solution but reminds them that it would be a real loss to deprive Maddie of the 2 most important men in her life.
Charlie visits Juliette at her home and Juliette tells him they need to talk.
Tandy arrives at Casa James with the look of a teenager who’s broken curfew. Rayna tells her the hearing was awful, and Tandy says she doesn’t think it would’ve made a difference if she had testified. Rayna wants to know what happened between her sister and her father because they used to be “thick as thieves” (natch). Tandy says she realized she may not know their father as well as she thought and needed to keep her distance for a little while.
Lamar is meeting with henchman Albert, making ominous pronouncements about how the blameless are safe, but the rest should be careful. Cut to Teddy, who is cancelling Deacon’s spot in the Music City Festival. Well now, that’s just petty! But also, that sequence can’t be a coincidence.
Juliette tells Charlie about watching him with Olivia the night of their anniversary party. She admits she wanted to trade places with Olivia that night. Charlie tries to tell Juliette that he loves her but Juliette tells him he doesn’t. She says, correctly, that he loves the challenge of her, but love is wanting to help a person be their best self. A deflated Charlie sees that Juliette doesn’t see that in him. Juliette tells him to get back together with Olivia, that she’ll forgive him and it’ll be like none of this happened. She says they should be grateful they figured this out before the public found out about them. Oh Juliette, you don’t know what show you’re on, do you?
Will is letting Layla stay with him while in Nashville. Layla is immediately interested in bedding him. She asks him what he thinks of Juliette. He says she’s alright, but Layla thinks she’s a bitch. Will excuses himself to go take a shower, and Layla takes the opportunity to call in a tip to TMZ that Juliette is behind the end of Charlie and Olivia Wentworth’s marriage. Soapy!
Come back next week for Nashville‘s mid season finale, where somebody will die! Who do we think it may be? The preview seemed to feature a “Noooooo!” from Rayna. That would narrow the likely pool to certain characters who were likely anyway: Teddy, Lamar, and Tandy. The season’s been setting up for Lamar to target Teddy, but do we think those writer anvils will land the obvious way, or will there be an unintended death, like Peggy taking a bullet for Teddy?
