‘Nashville’ Actor Charles Esten Praises Music City: ‘We’re Just Holding Up a Mirror’

During their time working on Nashville, many of the show's actors and actresses have come to love Music City so much that they've relocated permanently to the city. And according to Charles Esten, who plays Deacon Claybourne, the show has become a love letter to one of the best cities in the U.S.

“I love the interplay between Nashville the show and Nashville the city, so very much. Clearly from the word go, from the first pilot, that was written by Callie Khouri, our show is a love letter to Nashville, and what was so exciting was seeing that love returned to us by the city,” he says. “The people here really seem to appreciate what we’re doing and how we’re trying to bring something true and something exciting at the same time. That’s thrilling to us ‘cause we live here, and so that’s really important.”

Since the show is mostly filmed in Music City, Esten says that the fictional series does a good job of showing off all that real-life Nashville has to offer.

“If the city wasn’t all it is, you can do movie magic and all that, but it’s sorta hard to put too much there that’s not there," he says. "We’re just holding up a mirror, and the mirror says it’s the beautiful city that it is, with all the great music and all the great people, and the world gets to see that, and so here they come.”

The love seems to go both ways, with the country community embracing Nashville's stars.

“We’re just very lucky ‘cause I think a lot of us still think of ourselves as just these lucky actors that are playing these characters on a show about music, but the great thing is that the team behind the show really, really strives to find actors who have a love of music, and we all do,” Sam Palladio, who plays Gunnar Scott, says. “And so, it is an honor to be included and thought of, and asked to perform.”