Nashville Season 1 Review

• 11th Jul 2013

If you don’t know what Nashville is, where have you been living? It’s the guilty pleasure that centres on the wonderful world of country music. Starring Connie Britton (American Horror Story) as “Queen of Country Music”, Rayna James, and Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) as Juliette Barnes, the up and coming country starlet trying to steal her crown.

Don’t think that this is going to be a country music version of Glee for grown-ups it’s far classier than that. It’s a glossy American drama, think a little more like The West Wing or The Good Wife. This show not only features the rivalry between the two singers but also their deteriorating family lives and the trials and tribulations of trying to have a private life in the public eye. From disintegrating marriages to addicted parents and love rats, Nashville really does have all the clichéd family and relationship issues covered. Don’t think it’s predictable though. It really isn’t and it certainly had me perched on the end of my seat a number of times frantically stretching for the remote to find out what happens in the next episode.

Not only is it gripping viewing it also has an excellent soundtrack. Country music has a bit of a bad reputation here in the UK but this isn’t the cheesy country of Shania Twain that Radio 1 once subjected us too. This is quality song writing actually performed by the actors on the show. Who knew the cheerleader from Heroes has such a good voice? Relative newcomer (and surprise Australian – though you’d never know from her accent) Clare Bowen is definitely the star of the soundtrack though. As a waitress turned singer-songwriter her naivety and vulnerability shine through without making her seem sappy, totally one of the most likeable characters in the show (oh and girls, I’m warning you now, you will get hair envy!)

With 21 episodes over five discs, this box set will keep you entertained for quite some time and will pretty much have you hooked from the start.

Laura Johnson