NASHVILLE'S SONG-STORY SYNERGY

The ABC series Nashville has been feeding high-quality music to Big Machine since it hit the airwaves in fall 2012—and music is a big part of what gives Callie Khouri’s prime-time drama its traction. Entering its fourth season, Nashville is watched by 6m each week on average, while Big Machine’s six soundtrack albums, two for each season, and various tracks have collectively sold 1.2m in TEA.

“I’ve already got 22 great songs for the first [season four] soundtrack—and we’re only three episodes into recording,” says Buddy Miller, who serves as Nashville’s executive music producer. “That’s amazing, really. And these songs are as good as anything you’ll find out there.”

Frankie Pine, the show’s music supervisor, who’s also supervised Magic Mike and all the Oceans films, recognizes the potency of integrated visuals, narrative and music. “I’m always surprised by the sales, but when you’ve got songs—especially in montages—they encapsulate not only the character singing, but all the character’s storylines. That resonates with viewers, because they’re so invested.”

As season four’s tracks arrive at the various digital sales outlets and streaming services, Big Machine Label Group SVP of Partnership Marketing and Digital Strategy John Zarling echoes that sentiment. At the show’s inception, Zarling cut a deal with SiriusXM providing weekly exposure to the tracks—which not only reflect today’s country but also offer what some consider a deeper sense of the genre—on The Highway.

“The Clare Bowen/Sam Palladio duets seem to be ones the fans really respond to—and the storyline has brought them back together musically this season,” says Zarling. “So watch their tracks.”

Nashville’s marriage of storytelling and music also had a profound impact on country music’s growing popularity in the U.K. BBC Radio 2 Bob Harris Show producer and journalist Mark Hagen points to the show’s impact on a nation where old-school country archetypes still rule.

“With Nashville, suddenly people are seeing country music in a very different light,” Hagen points out. “The country music industry they’re showing is more modern, more cosmopolitan, and it gives people who aren’t invested in today’s country a sense that it’s something very different, more in keeping with pop culture. You can see it with the response to the C2C Festival that the Country Music Association has started doing.”

Chris Koenig, BMLG’s London-based International VP, agrees. “We get customers who don’t identify as country fans, but who start watching the show and get drawn into the characters. It’s introducing a different sense of what country is—and it’s a monumental thing.

“Luke Bryan may do 300,000 his first week [in the U.S.], but over here, it may be 3,000—and that’s with touring,” Koenig explains, “We’ve done half a million internationally with Nashville, and over half were in the UK.”

The show has become so popular in Britain that physical CDs of music from the series are among a mere handful of titles carried in Sainsburys, a massive grocery chain. “It’s very compilation-oriented,” Koenig notes. “But Nashville has allowed people to change perceptions from hats and trucks and dogs to something modern. It’s bringing a younger demo because of television showing them the difference—and these newer, younger fans are underserved. Suddenly, they’re responding, making C2C a sellout and buying up all these tracks and albums.”

With guest appearances from everyone from Christina Aguilera to Reba, the music is grounded in real stars too. But in the end, Connie Britton’s Rayna James, Hayden Panittiere’s Juliette Barnes, Chip Easton’s Deacon Claybourne, et al, drive as much as the established artists.

ABC even offered digital-only On the Record releases for the two live-music episodes—featuring the cast members performing the songs live from the Grand Ole Opry and The Ryman Auditorium. OTR moved over 50k albums and close to 200k tracks.

“It’s the stories and the characters, sure,” Zarling says. “But I think it’s also a different way to approach country music—and for casual consumers, more than the hardcore country fans, it’s a way to hear music that they relate to and want to have.”

What started with T Bone Burnett’s realization that there were other ways to deliver music to people continues. As new tracks arrive weekly, look for the first of two soundtracks to drop the first Friday in December, following the airing of what’s being billed as “the winter finale.”

With Pine and Miller throwing a songwriters’ camp one Saturday in early October on the soundstages of the series, which netted three solid songs for upcoming episodes, there will be plenty of material to pick from for the project that caps the first half of season four.

“You know,” says Americana icon Miller, who’s produced Band of Joy, Patty Griffin, Solomon Burke, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dr. Ralph Stanley and Emmylou Harris, “we’ve seen some writers really hit their stride, like Kate York and Sarah Siskind—as well as some of the city’s best writers, period. You take everything away—because people sometimes have ideas about music for television—and there are six or seven songs that stand with anything I’ve done.”•