Was Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus Almost Cast As Deacon Claybourne On Nashville?
Can you imagine Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus in the role of Deacon Claybourne on the TV series Nashville? The part is played by Charles Esten, of course, but that wasn’t guaranteed when the show was in development.
The Flatts member and multi-talented instrumentalist actually read for the part before the show’s debut. “It’s so funny,” Jay says through the trio’s record label. “Our little running joke is I read for the role of Deacon and my buddy Chip got it. So I always like telling [people] that he stole my gig.”
Jay admits that he’s dealt with a little bit of an acting bug over the years and he still hopes to have some fun in that arena. After things calm down a little bit, anyway. “The only things that I could do right now given the opportunity, would be like little guest starring roles on things, but I couldn’t be on a series right now,” he continues. “I really just read for Deacon for the experience because the more auditions you go on the more comfortable you become with the process. And so it’s just been a neat thing for me to kind of find something new to sink my teeth into.”
“Back To Us”
The Deacon character is still going strong, of course, at least for now. Nashville will end its run with Season 6, which premieres on CMT in January. See what’s going on Rascal Flatts’ world here. Their single “Back To Us” is at radio now.
Teddy McDonald is a fun-lovin’ country music fan man living in Nashville, Tennessee.
