Christina Aguilera is still hanging around Nashville as her character Jade St. John, the pop star looking for country music legitimacy, but at the Bluebird that’s only ever one story being told. This week sees the potential for a new liver transplant, a big charity gala, band auditions, a li’l bit of gay sex and a lot of Daphne Conrad without any of her family to help her perform. Only Andrew and Johnny can navigate waters as deep and soapy as these.
065 - NOBODY KNOWS BUT ME
Juliette has a baby name! And it’s been 3 weeks. Avery and Scarlett and Gunner’s band are doing an interview! And it’s been 3 weeks. Deacon and Rayna are living together! And it’s been 3 weeks. Jeff is being Layla’s manager! And it’s been 3 weeks. Maddie and Colton are dating and Andrew has the inside scoop! And it’s been 3 weeks. Johnny and Andrew are taking the Bluebird to the London O2 for Country2Country this weekend! And it’s been 3 years.
064 - THIS JUST AIN'T A GOOD DAY FOR LEAVIN'
Juliette’s baby shower is thwarted by a murder, a cancer, a tour and some private investigations. Andrew details Johnny’s nefarious backstory, Johnny reminds us of how you cannot simply steal nail polish, and eventually everyone gets along with the popular TV show Nashville.
062 - THAT'S THE WAY LOVE GOES
Rayna’s celebrating 10 years of being part of The Grand Ole Opry with a concert, whilst Layla and Jeff plan Layla Grant’s next career move, Scarlett goes on a Doctor Date and, hey, why don’t Avery and Gunnar spend an episode thinking of band names? Don’t fret, Andrew regails us with memories of his friendship with Colton ‘Colt’ Wheeler, a young man Andrew has had the pleasure of witnessing at the breakfast table wearing a baseball cap. That’s real intimate friendship there.
061 - SOMEBODY PICK UP MY PIECES
Goodbye Edgehill-brick road, where the beancounters of Harvard hound. You can’t plant me in your record label, I’m going back to Nashville!
There’s a huge fallout when the big label is disbanded, every artist is up for grabs, and somehow Jeff Fordham the bean counter from Harvard has sparked a love affair with the way-too-young woman he pushed to near-suicide just weeks ago. Andrew dives deep into his own bad-time-at-a-job experiences, and Johnny runs through so many different storylines in this packed episode about a packed episode.
060 - I'M LOST BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG
Happy 2022, we’re dusting off the old year with a watch of Season 3 Episode 13 of Nashville, featuring Deacon’s sadsack cancer prognosis, Avery the producer being micro-managed by Bucky with the no hair, Rayna versus Jeff Fordham, the bean counter from Harvard, over who has daughter Maddie’s musical contract, and hey for good measure why not a new addition to the Bungalow Bachelor Boys? It’s all happening in Tennessee this week.
059 - I'VE GOT REASONS TO HATE YOU
Deacon needs a new liver, so Scarlett calls her mother in, maybe fills a bathtub full of ice and preps a rusty knife just for her own sense of vengeance. Johnny runs through the compelling nature of Maddie Conrad being considered a potential next Taylor Swift in the eyes of Harvard’s pre-eminent beancounter Jeff Fordham, and Andrew firmly embraces a new form of sexuality through Blue Sky thinking.
058 - I'M NOT THAT GOOD AT GOODBYE
Layna/Ruke is no more, and it’s Wheels Up on Luke’s party-time angerfest, but more importantly Jeff Fordham, the bean counter from Harvard, is dealing with covering up an attempted suicide and a party gone wrong, whilst Will Lexington has to play the gay card on his recently-drowning wife to get the most sympathy from her on the hospital bed. That’s Johnny’s favourite character, and now we know why…
057 - SEASON 3 PART 1 SOUNDTRACK
It’s mid-season fi-party time and Johnny is taking Andrew track-by-track through the season’s first half in songs. Chill out, relax, we’re putting on a playlist, chatting about an art neither of us are fungible with and engaging in the fact that Charles Esten wrote and performed one song on this album and that’s far too few for any good human.
056 - FIRST TO HAVE A SECOND CHANCE
It’s wedding time for Luke and Rayna in the mid-season finale of Nashville Season 3, and the tours are over for the time being. Deacon and Scarlett are off to walk Memphis, Gunnar’s kid is meeting his grandparents, Layla maybe overdoses on some pills, Will proves how straight he is by cringing through sex with a woman, and why not have some big surprises and cliffhangers all around the town?
055 - TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY
It’s Winterville Nashfest in Season 3 Episode 9 of the show, and Juliette is stalking Avery, Will and Layla are trying to avoid reality TV stans, Zoe is leaving ZAG, Scarlett is forcing a homeless man to dance for a crowd, and Rayna & Luke (Layna? Ruke?) are recording their charity TV Christmas special, which sounds absolutely wonderful and not at all cringe-worthy. What larks the herald angels will sing upon this week’s Nashville outing?
053 - I'M COMING HOME TO YOU
In a horny episode of the podcast, Andrew thirsts for Daddy Gunnar, Johnny examines the wonder of Scarlett helping Terry, and best friend Colt makes out with Maddie to get on the cover of Rolling Stone. Also examined: the pre-release festival cycle of Juliette Barnes’ new biopic.
050 - I FEEL SORRY FOR ME
Episode 50 is upon us, and the Bluebird is dressed to impress with an epic episode about tour busses, adoption agencies, surprise parties and an extended nostalgia for the Christian Bale Terminator Salvation tape. Classic Backstage At The Bluebird shenanigans.
049 - I CAN'T GET OVER YOU TO SAVE MY LIFE
After a break, Andrew and Johnny are back to talk Season 3 Episode 3 of Nashville, with Juliette’s Camera test, Luke and Deacon’s Hollywood rivalry, Maddie and Scarlett at a party and, of course, Teddy Conrad, Mayor of Nashville and Blockbuster Member. We create several Marvel-style Nashville What If? Episodes too!
047 - THAT'S ME WITHOUT YOU
Season 3 of Nashville is here, and in the aftermath of Will Lexington’s coming out, Deacon AND Luke Wheeler’s proposals to Rayna James, and Juliette telling Avery about her affair with Jeff Fordham, Johnny and Andrew tackle the drama, the music and the epic roadtrip that commences this run of the TV show.
046 - SEASON 2 PART 2 SOUNDTRACK
Ending the season in true BATB fashion, Johnny takes Andrew through the second season’s second soundtrack release. Join the two as they go track-by-track through the highs, lows and mids of Nashville’s rocking, harmonising music.
045 - ON THE OTHER HAND
It’s the Season 2 finale and the air-con is busted backstage, so Andrew and Johnny melt and sweat whilst touching on Livin’ With Lex ‘n’ Layla, Deacon’s recovery concert, Jeff Fordham’s bean-counting relationship, Rayna’s album release and, of course, Why Is Gunnar Scott? What will happen in the dramatic, climactic finale of this second run of the show?
044 - ALL OR NOTHING WITH ME
Gunnar saw Juliett and Jeff Fordham the bean-counter from Harvard leave a screening room to appear in their own NC-17-rated movie, and Andrew is determined to list a whole bunch of other films they could have been in instead, whilst Johnny runs down an episode with Former First Lady Michelle Obama, the troops and Will Lexington’s new reality show.
043 - YOUR GOOD GIRL'S GONNA GO BAD
Oh dear, Scarlett’s had a bit of a breakdown, it’s almost like she knew what 2021 would be like and experienced it in 2014. Andrew and Johnny talk through her recovery, the further adventures of Gunnar Scott’s ascent in the financial world, and a few songs get a talking to for good measure.
042 - CRAZY
Things start to get out of hand on tour when Scarlett’s mother stops by, whilst the Teddy/Rayna/Deacon situation causes Nashville to enlist an EGOT winner, what a coup! Andrew and Johnny discuss Gunnar’s royalty cheque, and whether he even deserves any kind of money for his art.