Connie Britton and Charles Esten perform at 3rd & Lindsley on April 2, 2013.
It was a last-minute addition to this year's Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival - a show at 3rd & Lindsley featuring "Nashville" musical directors/contributors Colin Linden and Buddy Miller, along with "surprise cast members" from the ABC primetime drama.
It turned out those "surprise cast members" included virtually every musical member of the show's cast, all the way up to its biggest stars - Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere - who both made their live Music City debuts at the end of Tuesday night's show.
Britton (who plays country star Rayna Jaymes) joined Charles Esten (Deacon Claybourne) to perform a song from a future episode called "At the End of the Day," and Panettiere shared the stage with local songsmith and frequent "Nashville" contributor Kate York to sing "Telescope."
Along with Britton, Panettiere and Esten, the evening also included performances from Clare Bowen (Scarlett), Sam Palladio (Gunnar), Jonathan Jackson (Avery) Lennon & Maisy Stella (the Jaymes sisters) and Nashville pop/rock solo artist Erin McCarley, who plays Rayna's touring guitarist on the show.
Newcomer Chris Carmack - who's set to make his debut as "Will" on Wednesday night's episode - also made an appearance. Non-singing castmates Robert Wisdom and Judith Hoag were among the friends cheering them on.
Several more "Nashville" songwriters took the stage throughout the evening, including Gary Nicholson, Tyler James and Sarah Buxton.
