Cast Announced for T Bone Burnett-Produced Music City TV Series Tough Trade
Nashville Music Blog
By Patrick Rodgers
December 2, 2009
Remember that whole embarrassing “Nashville is the new L.A.” thing? It seemed like all that biz was going to die down for a bit, and then Hollywood started encouraging our little brother complex. West Coast celebs move here for a “change of pace.” Hollywood embraces the Nashville look. Hell, there’s even one of these here now, God help us.
Is there a glimmer of hope in Hollywood’s mild and likely fleeting Nashville fetish? Well, cinematically and musically, T Bone Burnett has a pretty good track record. He’s been behind soundtracks for films like O Brother, Lebowski and Walk the Line, but now he’s taking off his musical supervisor hat and pulling his executive producer’s ski mask over his head. T Bone is producing a forthcoming television pilot called Tough Trade, and it’s all about Music City. Intrigued? Might as well jump.
The drama, set to air sometime next year on the brand-new cable station Epix, was announced weeks ago, but the cast and T Bone’s involvement are news. The show, set in Nashville, will feature “the exploits of a three-generation, dysfunctional country music family. The plot is said to center around the family’s last hope: the black sheep, who was once a budding country star but is finding new success as an alt-rock heartthrob.” Alt-rock! That’s our beat! How current.
If you follow our sister blog Pith in the Wind, you likely saw Spurgeon’s post whenTough Trade was casting here in Nashville. Or you read Ridley’s story on Tough Trade when it was still in its infancy. But now the cast has been announced, and it’s a bizarre and intriguing one. Playing the first-generation country star will be Oscar-nominated Sam “The Right Stuff” Shepard. Playing his ne’er-do-well drunkard son will be Cary “Princess Bride/The Crush” Elwes, and playing the third-generation superstar will be Lucas “Friday Night Lights” Black. Oh, and this foxy Afghan will play Cary “Saw II” Elwes’ wife.
What I want to know is just which country-music-family template this show is going to follow. Are we talking Williamses? Carters? Judds? Cyruses? Lucas Black’s plotline sounds vaguely Hank 3-ish, but since Jenji Kohan is involved—you know, the creator of that show about weed that isn’t about weed anymore—perhaps it’ll turn into drama about Mexican politicians or something. Now I just need to figure out how in the hell to subscribe to Epix.
