BackinMemphis

On May 7th, 2014 Chip Esten performed a free concert in Washington, D.C., as part of a three day event hosted by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), centered around a critical call-to-action: Leading the Way to a World without Blood Cancers. Spry Living chatted with the Southern heartthrob to learn more about his daughter’s battle with leukemia, working on the set of Nashville and more. SL: What was it like having a young child with cancer?  CE: A couple of weeks before Addie’s diagnosis, we had been sitting in a hospital waiting room for an unrelated health issue. There had been a group of pediatric chemo patients sitting in the waiting room with their parents. The children had that distinct chemo “look” about them: they had lost their hair; their faces were swollen. As an actor, what struck me most, however, was that it wasn’t all morose and dramatic. The children were playing with the waiting room toys and books; the parents were casually talking to one another....

ABC's "Nashville" has been renewed. The news was announced by Ben Sherwood, co-president of Disney ABC Television Group, at 11:36 p.m. CT. "Congratz and welcome back for Season 3 to @Nashville_ABC," he tweeted, naming stars Connie Britton, Charles Esten, creator Callie Khouri and "the whole Nashville team and loyal fans."  According to a tweet from the show's transmedia producer, Geoffrey Colo, the show will return for a full 22-episode season. "Nashville" had been considered "on the bubble" between renewal and cancellation throughout its second season. The Nielsen company reported that it has averaged 4.5 million viewers in season 2, which is a 9 percent decrease from its first season. But as a musical force and multmedia brand, it has continued to grow. The show released its fourth soundtrack album with Big Machine Records earlier this month, with more than 600,000 total albums sold to date. The top-sellin...

The Washington Post's Helena Andrews spoke with 'Nashville' actor, Chip Esten while in town for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last Saturday, May 3, 2014. They talked about many topics. But what I found most interesting was that Esten says Hank Williams is his inspiration for his character, Deacon Claybourne . Who is your favorite country music singer? Hank Williams. He just set the template and unfortunately set the template for some of those demons I was talking about, but what he was able to do was to take his pain and put it in a song that can tear you up or it can lift you. It’s hard to get better than Hank. So would you say he was your inspiration for “Deacon”? Hank Williams is absolutely one of the people who inspires the character of Deacon, and not just him, but his songs. Those songs come from a real true place. That’s something about the best of country music, they’re very soul baring. Hank was one of the first to star...