Hi, I'm Clare Bowen from Nashville.

And stay tuned to find out some of her favorite musical influences. It's Tracy and I'm in the Young Hollywood studio with Clare Bowen. How are you?

Good. How are you?

So I know you just got off the plane, fresh in LA. Yep. Let's talk about Nashville. It's obviously one of the hugest, most amazing shows on right now. And it's funny 'cause you're Australian and you got the whole Southern twang going on. Was it tough to figure out how to do the accent or was it actually easy for you?

Oh, well Australians have such like a we're pretty laid back. Um, so I think there's a little drawl there anyway so maybe I have it a little easy. I don't know it's my favorite accent to do so I'm having fun.

Your character Scarlett. Your duet was, I mean I literally had like chills, like goosebumps. And I know everybody agreed. It was just, your voice is incredible. I feel like it really captivated what the whole show is about. So was it nerve-wracking? Was it, it just worked out so beautifully and perfectly?

Oh, thank you. It was, um, I mean to be given a song like that by, you know, The Civil Wars and um, to work with the people that I mean the first person we uh, that Sam and I met when we were doing that song was Buddy Miller. And he like sort of gritted his teeth and we'd never met and Sam and I had never met before. Who plays Gunnar. Um so we hadn't sung together and it was just brilliant casting that they managed to like our voices blended perfectly as soon as we sort of rehearsed. Which was really nice. Um his grin spread over his face. He was like, okay, it's working. I'm like, oh good. So um, but yeah, it's a great honor to be given music like that and then to be able to work with the people we're working with it's just like, oh yes. That's amazing.

And Hayden Panettiere, did you guys know each other before? Was it? Oh, no. Just met each other?

No, she's lovely. We've um, she's great. We had her in the studio and she's so much energy. She's so much energy. She's so funny. No, no. We've become really good friends and we hang out a lot. That's the whole um, the whole crew and cast are just like a big family. I guess 'cause we've all moved out to Nashville so everyone's sort of like, where am I? Um, so we've all kind of smooshed together and they're all just really happy there. And it's cool because the Bluebird Cafe, which was part of the show, that's actually a real music club that I mean is, you know, super legendary in Nashville. I heard Taylor Swift was discovered there when she was 15.

Yeah, and Garth Brooks as well. Like, you can go in and actually we found um, Garth's audition uh, form. This this photograph of him from the 80s I think is is really funny.

Oh, really? Oh, my god. He's like. So.

And what he's filled out for for his audition, you know, kind of thing and now he's he is who he is and Taylor as well. There's so many people who've come through there and so many brilliant songwriters and when you're on that stage, you sort of think about how many wonderful stories were told here and how like this, the creatives that came through that.

Right. It's not a typical set. It's like you're actually feeling it. And were you a fan of country music before the show? Did you grow up listening to it?

Yeah. Well, I grew up listening to everything from like Paul Simon to the Gypsy Kings to Hank Williams. Like and I love bluegrass as well.

Really?

Yeah, and that's interesting. But having gotten to Nashville and um, met the people that I've met and just explored the city there's so much more to learn and like it's great with the show that um, I think we're exploring the entirety of country music 'cause it people who are not fans of it or they don't have, I don't know, they don't have the in-road to that. We're giving it to them 'cause there's it's such a broad genre. There's, you know, the really eclectic side of it and to like honky tonk and rhinestones. It's like it's so different. There's so much in between so I think we're bringing that to people and hopefully they can see that.

So let's talk about for a second, your fashion is, I love it. Just everything about it. Are you like huge into fashion? Are there any trends that you're loving right now?

Um, I really like natural fibers and this is not a natural fiber. I think they stopped making this material because if you walk past a heater, you burst into flames. Oh, my god. Um, but yeah, just I I like the way things were made a few hundred years ago.

You're obviously an amazing singer and you've done acting. Is there anything do you prefer one versus the other or does it sort of compliment each other?

Um, I think they kind of work together. I mean singing came first.

How long have you been singing? Your whole life? Was it a a passion that you just

Pretty much. I think I learned to sing around the same time as I learned to walk. Um, and I'm classically trained so this is like totally different thing to what I was used to. Um, but yeah, I think it's all storytelling and it kind of it all smushes into itself.

And are we going to be seeing more breathtaking duets from you? I'm sure or solo songs.

There's more duets. I hope they're breathtaking. Thanks. Uh, it was like honestly one of the most memorable moments I'm sure everybody would agree. It was memorable to do. It was really cool where I had this really uh, wicked camera set up. We were in the middle of the set the camera's on a a circle circular dolly. I'm sure there's a technical name for that but I don't know it. Um, and well, okay. Well, we blacked out everything so it was sort of like we call it the the black abyss when when we're singing together or Connie and um, and Chip are singing together and it's they realize that they're in love kind of thing. It's the only place they're allowed to be in love and the camera revolves around us and everything else disappears.

So, let's talk about some of your musical influences because you said that you've loved bluegrass, but is there any other musical artists that just sort of inspired you to grow as a singer?

Um, hopefully grow. Uh, yeah, Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, um, Hank Williams, Paul Simon, oh, there's so many. Ray Charles, oh, um, who else? Oh, I saw Charlie Daniels play Devil Went Down to Georgia at the Opry the other night. Oh, my goodness. That was amazing. I've never seen his version of it. It was like it's one of my favorite songs. Allison Krauss is really, really amazing. Yeah. There's lots of them. There's Dolly Parton. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I could I'll sit here forever.