Welcome back to Nashville, where it turns out Luke Wheeler can play drums. Rayna greets him, and it turns out they’re in a studio where Liam interrupts their cooing for awkward but complimentary introductions. Liam agrees “This Time” is their single, delivers the finished master, and Rayna’s excited their album being done. Luke talks up Scarlett to Liam, because it turns out Liam is going to be producing Scarlett’s music. As a plot point, this is strained by potentially entertaining.
Meanwhile back at Deacon’s, his Belcourt friend wants him to record a duets album with all of his friends. Whatever happened to Deacon establishing himself as a solo act? Deacon is reluctant to call in so many favors, but Belcourt guy reminds Deacon he’s a legend in this town, that once word gets out that Deacon’s looking, Deacon will have to turn people away, and that this is his best chance to break out and get airplay.
Will is back at the place he shares with Gunnar, to Gunnar’s surprise. Will says that because their press tour has been all about Juliette’s scandal, the label sent everybody home until this blows over. He comments that this just goes to show how judgmental people are. Gunnar reassures him that he’s the future of Edgehill and there’s no way the label will keep its best looking cowboy on the sidelines for long. In strolls Layla, whom Will has agreed to let stay with them while things get sorted out. Layla, ever the savvy gal, angles for a cowriting session with Gunnar, and Gunnar agrees.
Scarlett presents some of her songs to Liam, saying “Crazy Tonight” got the best response on tour but she’s kind of gravitating towards “Looking For A Place To Shine” because that’s what she sang at her Opry debut. Liam’s indulging her, and then asks where she’s from. Scarlett explains she’s from Mississippi. Liam asks how she got to Nashville. Scarlett’s reluctant to be specific but says enough for Liam to figure out she moved here with a boy. He wants to know about the boy, but Scarlett isn’t too interested in discussing him. Liam tells her to bring back a song tomorrow. Scarlett asks which one, and he says, “Surprise me.”
Luke Not Bryan Wheeler has a surprise for Rayna. Earlier, she had talked about the challenge of trying to promote her single against every other major label out there. So Luke’s taken the liberty of arranging a promotion with NASCAR where a car racing that weekend will bear Rayna’s name and face, and there will be a private Luke Wheeler concert after the show where Rayna can announce her single drop date. Rayna is very excited and grateful, especially since one of the guys there is Sam Boone, owner of Boone’s Superstores, which stocks albums. Rayna goes over to talk to him, flattering him with her admiration for how he built an empire from one small storefront in Oklahoma. She wants to pick his brain and invites him to the Opry the next day. He invites her to be his guest at the race.
An empty-eyed Juliette is reading a scripted apology at Opry soundcheck while a smug Jeff Fordham and a glum Manager Glenn look on. She is supposed to launch into “Dreams” after her big plea for forgiveness. Jeff Fordham boasts “At last the filly is broken.” Super.
Teddy’s old friend Prosecutor Dashiell visits him in his office. It appears Teddy’s in the clear for any wrongdoing, because the prosecutor wants to offer his sympathies and doesn’t seem to have any other idea why Teddy called. Teddy tells him he’s convinced Lamar had something to do with the shooting. The prosecutor asks him if he has any proof, and Teddy says he doesn’t, even leaving out the circumstantial link that the shooter worked for Hollander Industries. He says it makes sense, because Lamar thinks Teddy was the prosectuor’s star witness when it’s actually Tandy. The prosecutor obviously can’t and won’t say who is star witness is and tells Teddy he should be grateful somebody’s standing up to Lamar because it means Lamar will go to jail for something.
Tandy’s on the phone with Maddie and Daphne, who want her to come home. She asks Daphne how she likes Luke Wheeler, and Daphne starts talking about his horses when Maddie rolls her eyes and grabs the phone, telling Tandy to come because they all miss him. Tandy and Rayna talk about what Rayna is going to wear that night…it’s Juliette’s Opry induction, but it is also Rayna and Luke’s 1st public appearance as a couple. As they talk, Tandy gets texts demanding that she turn herself in immediately because she’s in violation of her plea agreement and scheduled to testify in two days. So….she’s on the lam? That explains the poorly lit motel she’s in. Tandy peeks out the window, because that’ll tell her if she’s being watched and the Feds are incapable of tracing cell phone calls.
Layla and Gunnar sit down for their songwriting session, and it goes poorly because Layla is too bottled up to figure out what she wants to say.
Juliette arrives for her Opry induction with a media frenzy awaiting. Meanwhile Luke and Rayna are doing red carpet press, deflecting a question about their 1st date while Rayna deflects a question about her father’s upcoming trial. Backstage, Deacon goes to see Juliette, and she greets him warmly. She thanks him for being there for her. Deacon tells her about his record deal, and while Juliette is thrilled for him, she says no when he asks her to duet with him, on account of the idea that people are still burning her CDs. Before they can continue that conversation, Maddie shows up. Maddie hangs out with Juliette, with Juliette doing her makeup and encouraging her to keep doing her music. Maddie tells Juliette that the haters are just bullies. Avery shows up because it’s almost time, and tells Juliette she doesn’t have to do this. But Juliette says she does.
Daphne wants Rayna to take her to see Brad. Rayna needs to wait for Mr. Boone, so Daphne asks Luke, who agrees. Rayna greets Mr. Boone.
Meanwhile Scarlett’s singing “Crazy Tonight,” and Liam is facepalming. He stops the session, and slams the lyrics for having nothing to do with who Scarlett is. He asks Scarlett how he’s supposed to produce the album that’s going to introduce her to the world if he has no idea who she is. He grabs Scarlett’s journal/songbook and locks out of his booth to read it. Scarlett is furious with him, and Liam informs her that he is a bastard, but he also knows that inside every nice person is a damaged, angry soul that has to be fought down. Scarlett denies there’s any such person inside her, but Liam’s read her journal and wants to know who or what “Black Roses” is. Scarlett’s still furious with him, but Liam tells her she’s insanely talented and he doesn’t understand why she would keep the most interesting parts of herself hidden. Turns out, there were issues with her mother.
Juliette is walking down an Opry hallway with Brad Paisley, and tells him she’s as nervous as “a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” Brad tells her she’s about the get the most important award she’ll ever get, and that Opry membership means she’ll always have a place to play where people will love her. Juliette isn’t so sure about that part, but Brad tells her he’s been lied about and misunderstood too, and he’s still there.
Rayna is giving Mr. Boone the Opry tour when Daphne comes along tell Rayna that Juliette’s induction is about to start. Mr. Boone isn’t interested in attending, so Rayna sends Daphne off with Luke and stays with him. He’s more interested in the Johnny & June Carter Cash display. Brad Paisley inducts Juliette, and she thanks Steve Buchanan and Pete Fisher of the Opry, Manager Glenn, and the fans who have stuck by her. Juliette then talks about the apology her label had written for her and how she can’t stand in the mother church of country music and be anything she’s not before launching into the defiant “Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet.” Manager Glenn is loving it (as are Maddie and Daphne), Jeff Fordham is not. After her performance is over, Juliette gets polite applause and walks through a crowd of people who don’t know what to say or do to her dressing room. Her first visitor is Rayna, who tells Juliette that what she did wasn’t very smart, but it sure was brave. “Good for you,” says Rayna.
To DOWNLOAD “Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet,” cowritten by Trent Dabbs and Caitlyn Smith and performed by Hayden Panettiere, click HERE.
BONUS: Check out “Nashville: On The Record” on “Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet,” featuring cowriters Trent Dabbs and Caitlyn Smith, plus Hayden Panettiere and Nashville music supervisor Frankie Pine
Check out an acoustic performance of “Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet” by Trent Dabbs and Caitlyn Smith:
Next up is Jeff Fordham, who tells Juliette that from day one, he’s had Juliette’s best interests at heart and figured all her rebellion was just an artist’s process. But now, he tells her, he realizes she’s just stupid. Jeff drops Juliette from Edgehill. Juliette grabs her Opry membership trophy, and tells him that stupid is losing his top 2 acts within his 1st 6 months on the job. “I might have burned the house down, but I made damn sure you were in it when I lit the match.” She tells Jeff she’ll see him on the unemployment line, and walks out of her dressing room smiling.
Deacon is making breakfast when he realizes Scarlett never made it back home. He calls her, and it turns out she’s still in studio with Liam. She tells him everything’s fine, and it seems like she is. She’s confiding the meaning of some pretty cheesy lyrics to Liam. Her mother, it seems, suffered from episodes that would force her to be committed to a psychiatric facility where animals were part of the calming therapy. Scarlett tells Liam he can get a piano player in studio – she thinks it’s best to put these lyrics to song now.
We’re off to the races, where Rayna and Luke are hanging out with Mr. Boone. Finally things come to a head, and Boone tells Rayna that he’ll put her in touch with Dan Gillis, who’s responsible for stocking their shelves with music. But he tells her these deals are worked out a year in advance, so maybe they can work something out for next year.
Will confronts Gunnar about his failed writing session with Layla. Gunnar asks Will what he’s doing, because he’s not even attracted to Layla. Gunnar tells Will to “uncomplicate” things before somebody gets hurt.
Megan is meeting with Teddy in Teddy’s office. She wants to know why he’s so sure about Lamar being responsible for Peggy’s death. After assurances that their conversations are privileged, Teddy tells Megan about cutting an immunity deal with the feds in exchange for information about Lamar. None of Teddy’s information was valuable enough, it turns out, so he’s not the prosecution’s star witness. Megan asks Teddy if he’s considering seeing a therapist to deal with his grief. Teddy tells her the only thing that will help him deal with his wife’s death is justice.
Rayna joins Luke Wheeler on stage at the private NASCAR concert in Atlanta, telling Mr. Boone she hopes this will change his mind. She announces to a cheering crowd that now includes Maddie and Daphne and a scowling Jeff Fordham, that her album will drop May 1. Jeff Fordham gets on the phone with Brent to tell him to book a major Edgehill release for May 1 and make sure there is no space to stock any album that isn’t Edgehill. Meanwhile Rayna’s happily performing “This Time.”
Scarlett has fallen asleep in studio when Liam gently wakes her up. They have 40 minutes left in their studio time, and he offers to hold off on further recording for a better time. But Scarlett wants to capture the magic of the moment. She wants coffee, Liam offers her the pills he uses to get over jet lag. Ruh roh. He tells her to take half of one if she’s nervous about them, and gives her the whole bottle. I mean, come on. The ominous music playing tells us we are in fact supposed to be worried.
In other news, it turns the feds can track cell phones, as they find and arrest Tandy, who protests that she can’t testify against Lamar because he’ll have her killed.
Meanwhile, Will finds Layla weeping with her guitar, as she tells him she tried to write a song to prove Gunnar wrong, but he’s right, she has nothing to say. She tells Will about how she’s spent her whole life trying to be the person who her parents want her to be, the pageants, getting into Harvard, to the point that she no longer knows who she is. Instead of going the cliche route and telling Layla that’s the stuff a good song’s made of, Will comforts her and tells her he knows what it’s like to see the hurt in his parents’s eyes when you fail to be the person they want you to be. He puts his arms around her and tells her she’ll figure it out.
Back in Atlanta, Jeff asks Luke Wheeler why he came to see his top act and instead walked into the Rayna James promotional tour. Luke Wheeler says he heard Edgehill lost Juliette Barnes and he hopes there isn’t a pattern of Edgehill not being able to keep its artists happy. Rayna meanwhile is schmoozing around, getting an Austin Dillon autograph her daughters, and then meeting up again with Mr. Boone, who tells her perhaps they can work something out. With Maddie watching, he tells a disappointed Rayna that Boone Superstores will no longer be stocking Juliette Barnes albums to protect their brand. Rayna doesn’t protest, and Maddie is not impressed with her mother or Mr. Boone.
Manager Glenn is attempting more damage control and to find Juliette a new deal when Juliette tells him to stop. She offers him a nice, long vacation on her, and tells him, as she makes mac & cheese with ketchup, that she’s relieved not to have to live up to the Juliette Barnes name or to live down something attached to Juliette Barnes.
Deacon is at the Bluebird, where Avery is bussing tables. They have a friendly chat about Deacon’s record deal. Avery asks Deacon why he didn’t take his shot when he had some heat. Deacon says he was Rayna’s guitarist and writing hit songs, and he didn’t need to be famous. Avery pointedly asks if he needs that now.
Tandy is refusing to testify, and Prosecutor Dashiell says he has a material witness order saying Tandy must testify. He says they have enough evidence to convict both Tandy and Lamar. Tandy’s lawyer smugly informs the prosecutor that Tandy obtained those documents illegally, that she verbally resigned from Wyatt Industries on 10/10, meaning she obtained all those documents she turned over illegally (on 10/16). Tandy says she’d rather her father go free than look over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
Jeff Fordham congratulates Rayna on thinking like a label head by swooping in on Juliette’s shelf space. You can tell Rayna is not happy with herself.
Scarlett is singing “Black Roses,” which sounds much better to music than those isolated lyrics would’ve suggested in studio while we see footage of Rayna politely telling Mr. Boone that she won’t be pursuing a deal at Juliette’s expense, Luke playing with Daphne and Maddie, Will tearing up as Layla sleeps, and Tandy exiting the prosecutor’s office with the feeling of a free woman. In real life, Lucy Schwartz wrote the song specifically for Nashville.
The day after, Layla visits Gunnar at South Hill Publishing to tell him that he was right, and to ask for tips on how to get started as a songwriter. He advises her to keep a journal of her thoughts, and tells her one of the best songwriters he knows started out that way.
Cue Scarlett, having breakfast with Deacon. Deacon has decided on a Live From The Bluebird album instead of Belcourt’s proposed duets album, and he’s excited about it. He asks if Liam’s the right guy to work with Scarlett, that he’s been working her pretty hard. Scarlett says people have been pushing her around ever since she’s started this path but this is the first time she feels like she’s in charge. This album is going to be about the real her. Deacon says it’s been a while since she’s sounded excited about her music and he’s glad to see it.
Meanwhile Luke is bantering with Rayna about turning down a deal with the biggest chain in the country. She says she had to go with Mr. Boone’s advice to always protect your brand, and she wants Highway 65 to be a refuge for artists to create. She can’t be a part of a corporate jackass trying to squelch Juliette’s voice. Maddie and Daphne are ready to go to school, and Luke is apparently going to help with the carpool by…bringing along the NASCAR with Rayna’s name and face all over it? Maddie is mortified.
Scarlett arrives back in studio with Liam, and sneaks another pill. *sigh*
Megan calls Teddy in his office, and tells him to turn on the TV. They both watch as local news reports that instead of going on trial, Lamar Wyatt will be released. Megan comments that Lamar really does seem untouchable.
Meanwhile Juliette arrives at Avery’s with ketchup, mac & cheese. She tells him he had her convinced she’d be OK if it all went away, but she realizes there’s one thing she does want and need, and that’s him. Cue makeout. And…scene!
