Tour brings ABC’s ‘Nashville’ to North Texas

North Texans will get a bonus episode of ABC’s Nashville this weekend.

It will be skimpy on plot, but there will be plenty of good music.

Cast members of the popular county-music soap are taking the show on the road in a “Nashville in Concert” tour that includes 22 cities in the U.S. and the U.K.

The lineup for Saturday’s show at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie: Chris Carmack (who plays Will Lexington), Clare Bowen (Scarlett O’Connor), Charles Esten (Deacon Claybourne) and Aubrey Peeples (Layla Grant).

It’s hard to say who gets more enjoyment out of these concerts: the fans or the stars.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to share the music from the show and for us to meet the fans,” Carmack says. “It’s much more satisfying for everyone than just doing a personal appearance at the shopping mall and people standing in line to get autographs, which feels a little incomplete.

“This arrangement allows us to do what we love, which is get on a stage and perform this music, while the fans can share with us their passion for the music and the show.”

Bigger tour

Nashville, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, is in its fourth season on ABC. This is the third year that cast members have gone on tour — and the scope gets bigger every year.

“The first tour was five cities, kind of an exploratory thing, just to see how it goes,” Carmack recalls. “It turned out there were a lot of fans who wanted to hear the music and wanted to see us play it.

“The tour went really well, great crowds, but it went too fast. It told us what we needed to know, which was that we should be doing this. It’s such a natural extension of the show.”

Last year, the tour expanded to about 15 dates, many played to sold-out crowds. There also was a well-received documentary that aired on ABC during a week when there was no episode.

This year, for the first time, dates in the U.K. have been added to the schedule.

Carmack, who released a five-song EP last year called Pieces of You, says he has relished every minute of the experience.

“There’s nothing like playing live music for fans who love the songs,” he says. “I’ve played in a few bands over the years. I’ve played to empty bars before. But I’d never had the opportunity to do it for crowds like this.

“It’s a new level when there are people out there hooting and hollering for your music. It’s an adrenaline rush and it’s fun and rewarding.”

Songs from the show

Fans can expect to hear a handful of original tunes. Carmack will probably do one song, called Being Alone, the opener from his EP, for example.

But mostly the artists will stick to a playlist of familiar favorites from the show. Carmack and Bowen have talked about dusting off their fun You Ain’t Dolly (And You Ain’t Porter) duet from Season 1.

Carmack was hired on Nashville as a recurring guest star, but he quickly became a full-time cast member. His character, who came out of the closet in the Season 3 finale, has a large and loyal fan base.

“There’s a social context to the character of Will Lexington that people have responded to,” Carmack says. “And because we interact with our fans — Twitter is a particularly great way to do that — I’m able to hear what they think. All of the support that Will Lexington gets really warms my heart.”

Which isn’t to say that Will is some kind of gay superhero.

“We just did an episode where Will disappointed people,” the actor says. “He got hit in the face with a beer bottle [thrown onstage by someone yelling gay slurs], but he decided not to press charges.

“The police officer said, ‘If you want to file this report, we need your name,’ and Will thought, ‘I can’t do it; I’ve been dragged through the press so much already,’ and he decided not to press charges. There was a huge outcry on Twitter after that.

“But I think that’s what makes him such a great, fleshed-out character. He’s human, he struggles, he bleeds, he disappoints people, he’s real, and I feel so lucky to play him.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 7:17 AM with the headline "Tour brings ABC’s ‘Nashville’ to North Texas."