Charles Esten performs at the Musicians On Call celebration of Millions Of Moments, Wildhorse Saloon … [+] Nashville, Tennessee, January 2023. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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Love Ain’t Pretty, Charles Esten’s newly released independent debut album, has been more than a decade in the making. Fine-tuned by life and career experiences, like starring in ABC/CMT’s
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series Nashville (Esten portrayed country artist Deacon Claybourne), and being on the road with the sell-out Nashville The Reunion Tour, Love Ain’t Pretty has been a collective process for the actor-singer-songwriter.
Unlike most country artists with a debut album, Esten’s primetime visibility as an actor (ABC/CMT’s Nashville, Netflix’s Outer Banks) has helped him build a unique fanbase. Nashville put Esten in the spotlight as a singer-songwriter. And he has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage over 165 times. So Love Ain’t Pretty is more of a deep dive than a detour for the multifaceted artist whose many singles include “Undermine” with Hayden Pantettiere and “No One Will Ever Love You” with Connie Britton.
Rayna James (Connie Britton) and Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten) perform on Season 3 of Nashville … [+] (Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network, Photo by Mark Levine/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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The Album
Written with the wisdom and breadth that comes with time, Esten captures the dimensions of love, loss, growth, and hope. Co-writing all 14 tracks, he describes each as a different step in life.
“This (the album) is about that journey of life— about how hard it all can be, but how worth it it all is. And all the songs are different steps in that journey, which means hopefully, and I never even thought of this ’til after, that it’ll find somebody or everybody in whatever different place they are. It’ll meet you where you are. And hopefully, you know, find you in that moment and give you a need in that moment. Whether it’s a particular song or particular line, a particular bit of music that you might connect to it.”
The Emotions
Like Nashville’s Deacon Claybourne, the tracks offer up an emotional roller coaster with relatable simplicity that is easy to embrace. From heartfelt (“Love Ain’t Pretty,” “In a Bar Somewhere,” “One Good Move” and “Candlelight”) and rebellious (“I Ain’t,” “Another Song About You”) to gut-punching (“When Love Ain’t Love) and empowering (“Maybe I’m Alright”), Esten’s songwriting taps the gamut of emotions and experiences including profound loss and grief (“Somewhere in The Sunshine”).
“Somewhere in The Sunshine” is as far from his playful “Make You Happy” as you can get, but that was Esten’s intention—reminding listeners of the highs, lows, and everything in between.
“Make You Happy” Music Video
“Somewhere in The Sunshine” Official Music Video
Real life isn’t airbrushed. And Esten’s certainly hasn’t been. Over two decades ago, he and wife Patty faced every parent’s nightmare when their daughter Addie was diagnosed with leukemia. Addie had a full recovery.
Esten currently serves as the National Honorary Spokesperson for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s annual Light The Night Walk. Together with the efforts of Patty and Addie and her two siblings, their “Team Addie” serves as a model for fundraising success and hope for families facing medical challenges.
NASHVILLE, TN – 2018: Charles Esten and Patty Hanson Puskar pose with “Charles Esten’s Team Addie” … [+] at Charles Esten’s Light The Night Walk And Light The Late Night Concert at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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Before And After Deacon
A longtime musician, Esten was a singer/songwriter before he played one. But having the opportunity to portray Deacon Claybourne, the painfully flawed country artist offered him endless lessons when it came to developing and polishing his craft. During his tenure on the show, he learned from some of the best songwriters and musicians in the business like legendary producer and guitarist T Bone Burnett.
“But the real lesson, if I’m honest, is the lessons that the audience gave me. And what I mean by that is, people either coming up to me, or reaching out on social media, or in any other way, and talking about how Deacon’s journey impacted them and how it affected them as they thought about their own father, as they thought about their mother, their sister, their brother and the things they were going through.”
Music As Therapy
Music has a way of offering comfort where other approaches sometimes fail or fall short. Esten’s Nashville experiences emphasized that for him.
“I learned that with the show Nashville in spades, that we would have these scenes that you could only say so much in the scene. And even my character, Deacon would only tell you so much in a conversation, but you put him behind a guitar, and he’ll tell you anything. And I learned through that, through the feedback from people that watch Nashville, how healing so much of that music was to them,” explains Esten who serves on the board and as a volunteer for Musicians On Call, a non-profit that brings live and recorded music to patients, families and caregivers in healthcare environments.
Esten’s 2024 Love Ain’t Pretty Tour will take the artist to venues throughout the U.S. and Europe.
“I have this theory that when we’re trying to heal ourselves and we’re trying to deal and process our own pain, it’s so hard to look at it head on, to confront it, right— face to face. And the beauty of music and art and film and all these things is they don’t confront us face to face. They sneak in a side door to our heart. They come in like a bank shot. And your guard is down, you’re just enjoying a program or you’re just listening to the radio. And suddenly this thing has found its way into you. And it might hurt a little bit, but it’s sort of a cathartic healing. It’s sort of a process.”
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