Nashville TV Show Cast and Characters - Juliette Barnes versus Rayna James

Meet the Nashville Cast and Characters

Meet the cast and characters from the Nashville tv show coming to ABC on October 10th 2012.

Find out who's nice and who's got spice in the latest singing drama to hit our tv screens this Fall.

You'll recognize some of the Nashville cast, which includes Hayden Panettiere and Connie Britton. However, the Nashville characters they portray are very different from their normal roles.

Keep reading to find out all the details about the Nashville cast and characters and remember to vote for your favorite characters in the poll below.

Connie Britton is the female lead in Nashville. She plays Rayna James, a country singer that's been popular for almost 20 years and was the next big thing in her youth. Although people still love her and are always keen to get her autograph, her star is fading. There's a new country singer on the block and Rayna is struggling to sell out her tour and failing to reach the dizzying heights she used to.

Rayna is given an ultimatum by her record label to co-headline with the new singing talent of Juliette Barnes. Rayna has to decide what's best for her and her family and her career too. She is married with two children and has a hectic life to juggle.

This experienced singer has a few skeletons in her closet including a long term relationship with a band member that may or may not have crossed over into her marriage.

Connie Britton

Connie Britton played the role of Nikki in Spin City, alongside Michael J Fox. She then went on to become a regular on Friday Night Lights. More recently she played a lead role in the tv series American Horror Story and she has appeared in Nightmare on Elm Street, so horror is not new to her.

Eric Close plays the husband of Rayna James. Teddy Conrad isn't exactly the man that Rayna would have picked to marry. Her father thought they were a good fit and encouraged the relationship.

Teddy Conrad lives off the income earned by his wife Rayna. He helps look after their daughters, but when he is offered a chance to become the main breadwinner in the family he jumps at the chance. However, that's not what Rayna wants.

Teddy has aspirations to be a power player in Nashville. However, those dreams may come at a price.

Teddy's ambition may push Rayna back into the arms of her past lover.

Teddy also has secrets, but would do anything to jump back into business. His previous real estate deal went south and lots of people lost their shirts in the process. How much did Teddy know about the bad deal will no doubt come to light as the series continues.

Eric Close

Eric Close is an actor that seems to be everywhere. He played Travis Tanner in Suits and also had a small role in American Horror Story. He also had a long standing role in Witout a Trace and played the role of a human looking alien in the Steven Spielberg tv movie called Taken, starring Dakota Fanning.

Lamar Wyatt is portrayed by Powers Boothe and he is the father of Rayna James.

He disapproves of his daughter's career and feels that her husband should get involved in politics. Lamar Wyatt is a powerful politician and convinces Teddy to run for the Mayorship. However, this strains relations further with his daughter.

Rayna feels that her father is controlling and is trying to dictate her life. Lamar thinks his daughter should give up the life of a country singer and become a good politician's wife.

Powers Boothe

Powers Boothe has appeared in a number of tv series including 24, Deadwood and Spin City.

Hayden Panettiere plays sexy and sassy newcomer Juliette Barnes.

Juliette is young and willing to use all her feminine wiles to get exactly what she wants. She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but audiences shouldn't be fooled. She's an experienced entertainer and she knows how to get people on her side. If she has to play dirty nothing will hold her back.

When she finds out that her record label wants her to co-headline with Rayna James she is only interested in what she has to gain from it. When she realizes there's little for her to gain she sabotages the meeting by not being nice and insulting the fellow singer.

However, Juliette Barnes isn't really talented in the voice department. Those in her team are thankful everyday for the autotuner and her production team makes her look and sound fantastic.

Also Juliette has done her best to hide her past, however at some point it will be brought out into the light. She'll have to face the music and roll with the punches.

If Juliette has to steal your man to get what she wants, then look out because she'll do it. Will she feel good about herself in bed at night? Well you'll have to watch the show to find out.

Hayden Panettiere

Not many people start their acting career at the tender age of 11 months, but Hayden Panettiere did. Her mother entered her in a casting call for a PlaySkool commercial and she got it. She then went on to appear in the tv series One Life to Live from the age of 4. Her voice has been used in a number of films including A Bug's Life and Dinosaur. She also appeared in Ally McBeal as the daughter that was a result of the eggs Ally sold to fund herself through college. Hayden then went on to star in Racing Stripes and also appeared in Macolm in the Middle. However, it wasn't until she was cast as super sweet, self-healing cheerleader Claire Bennett that she became a household name. Juliette Barnes is her latest role and she has certainly grown up and is ready to show audiences exactly what she can do in the Nashville tv show.

Chip Esten plays the role of Deacon Claybourne.

He's a long time friend and previous lover of Rayna James. He still works closely with her as he is one of her guitarists and also writes some of the songs she performs.

Juliette Barnes is going out of her way to try to recruit Deacon for her music team. Her plan is to destroy Rayna James by stealing one member of her team at a time.

Deacon is loyal to Rayna and has no wish to hurt her in that way. Juliette doesn't like to take no for an answer and tries to explain to Deacon that Rayna isn't the only woman on the planet.

Deacon's loyalty will be constantly tested in the trying times ahead. He may find himself getting closer to Rayna again.

Chip Esten

Chip Esten has had previous roles in Big Love, ER, The Office and Party of Five.

Johnathan Jackson plays Avery Barkley.

Avery is a bad boy and is dating Scarlett O'Connor. He's also a guitarist and a songwriter. However, he is easily seduced by the glamor and bright lights of Nashville. On top of that, he finds himself in high demand with the ladies.

Avery is doing his best to make it in Nashville, but things don't always work out the way you'd like them to.

Johnathan Jackson

Johnathan Jackson is a household name from his role as Lucky Spencer on General Hospital which spans a total of almost 15 years. During that time he also appeared in the tv series of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, where he played the role of John Connor's father - Kyle Reese.

Clare Bowen plays Scarlett O'Connor in Nashville.

Scarlett loves country music and she really loves Rayna James. She's been her fan forever and loves country music so much that she even writes country songs. She'd love to team up with Rayna and write some songs for her. There's one problem though. Scarlett is super shy and doesn't know how to push her way into the business.

Scarlett gets her chance to show her talent when she teams up with Gunnar and performs a duet. She could have a huge career, if she doesn't allow other people to hold her back.

Clare Bowen

Clare Bowen is an Australian actress and is probably hoping that Nashville will make her a household name in the USA.

Robert Wisdom plays Coleman Carlisle.

Coleman is a friend of Lamar Wyatts and is involved with Teddy and the Mayorship.

Robert Wisdom

Robert Wisdom's had a lot of roles on tv. He was recently in Burn Notice, but I remember him best from his role as the angel Uriel on Supernatural. Before that he played Bunny in The Wire and was also in Prison Break. His most popular movie roles include The Forgotten and Ray.

Sam Palladio plays Gunnar Scott.

Gunnar is another guitarist and songwriter. He's new and an up and comer. However, his fate may lie in the hands of Scarlett O'Connor. He's also really attracted to her, but she seems to be blind to it.

Sam Palladio

Sam Palladio's most recent role was on Episodes.

Nashville Cast and Characters Have Guts

There is so much depth to the Nashville characters. Audiences might think there are a lot of people to get to know and that it would be confusing, but it's surprisingly easy to remember who everyone is.

If you watch the Nashville trailer to the right it will give you an insight of what to expect from the members of the show.

Each character has their own motivations and agenda's and are very much three dimensional. These characters are also believable. You might not like all the characters, but they leave drama and turmoil in their paths.

There are relationships, friendships and secrets pacts. People wil get their hearts broken in Nashville and new players will fill the holes left by broken musicians. No Nashville cast member is safe from drama in this musical tv series. Every week will see the story develop further.

Please vote for your favorite characters in the poll located to the right.

You'll love the Nashville cast and characters if you'd love to see the Smash tv series crossed with the return of the Dallas tv show.