Fans of Nashville woke up to some terribly sad news Monday.
Hayden Panettiere, who played country superstar Juliette Barnes throughout all six seasons of the hit television series, died Sunday, August 16. She was just 36 years old. Her representative confirmed her death, and her family has asked for privacy. No cause of death had been publicly announced as of Monday morning.
For country fans, Panettiere’s connection to Nashville went considerably deeper than simply playing a fictional singer on television.
She actually became a country chart artist.
Panettiere recorded extensively for the show’s soundtracks, ultimately placing 11 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
One of the best-known was “Telescope,” which spent 15 weeks on the country chart after being released to country radio in 2012.
Her collaborations with her Nashville castmates also found an audience. “Undermine,” her duet with Charles Esten, reached No. 35, while she charted alongside Connie Britton on “Wrong Song” and “He Ain’t Gonna Change.” “Don’t Put Dirt on My Grave Just Yet” reached No. 34 in 2014.
Ironically, country music was something Panettiere had once been afraid to pursue.
She had worked toward making an album as a teenager and released the pop single “Wake Up Call” in 2008, but later said pop music never felt entirely natural to her. Country was closer to the music she actually loved, but growing up in New York made her worry audiences wouldn’t accept her as a country singer.
Then Nashville came along.
The ABC series premiered in 2012 and centered on the lives, careers and relationships of people inside Nashville’s country music business. Panettiere’s Juliette Barnes began as an ambitious young superstar seemingly positioned as a rival to veteran singer Rayna Jaymes, played by Britton.
Over six seasons, Juliette became considerably more complicated—and Panettiere earned two Golden Globe nominations for the role.
The show also filmed in Nashville, allowing Panettiere to actually live in Music City while making it. She later spoke warmly about the city and the way people there treated her.
Panettiere had already enjoyed a remarkable acting career before Nashville. She appeared in Remember the Titans, became internationally famous as Claire Bennet on Heroes and later appeared in the Scream franchise.
But for millions of country fans, she’ll always be Juliette Barnes.
And the music she made while playing her turned out to be real enough to land on the country charts.
