Nashville adds diversity to new season as cast includes transgender star in recurring role

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The new season of Nashville kicks off with traditional songs rooted in gospel and folk music rather than big production country tunes.

And the upcoming fifth - which stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere - aims to reflect more diversity in both the music and the cast.

The musical drama TV season will premiere on CMT and feature its first transgender actress, Jen Richards, the network has seen in a recurring role.   

Country cuties! Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere - pictured July 2012 - will return for the upcoming fifth season of Nashville as country queen Rayna James and pop singer Juliette Barnes, respectively

'Can make a big difference': The musical drama TV season will premiere on CMT and feature its first transgender actress, Jen Richards, the network has seen in a recurring role

Country queen Rayna James, played by Connie, finds a revelation after hearing a blind man singing Wayfaring Stranger, an Appalachian tune estimated to be two centuries old. 

And Juliette, portrayed by Hayden, sees an angelic vision in white singing the hymn God Shall Wipe All Tears Away.

Grammy-winning banjo player and singer Rhiannon Giddens will also reappear throughout the season. 

Richards - who earned an Emmy nomination for her web series, Her Story - said word spread quickly within the transgender acting community that Nashville was casting because there are so few television roles available.

'It's going to reach people': Richards said being the first open transgender actor on CMT is hugely significant to changing perceptions about the transgender community

'I only get called in for trans roles and then I lose those parts to men because they think I look too much like a regular girl to play a trans part,' she said.

The casting of a recurring transgender role on a show set and shot in the South is extremely timely. 

Last year, Tennessee lawmakers considered a so-called 'bathroom bill' that would require public school students to use the restrooms corresponding to their gender at birth. 

Viacom, the parent company of CMT, condemned the bill in Tennessee, which ultimately failed to pass.

Recurring role: Grammy Award-winner Rhiannon Giddens will also reappear throughout the season

However, when Richards goes to visit her family in North Carolina, it's a different story. 

Lawmakers there failed to repeal the HB2 law that limits protections for LGBT people and includes a provision about which bathrooms transgender people can use. 

Lionsgate, which produces Nashville, pulled production out of North Carolina on another series because of the law.

'That law was only possible, people could only draft that and put it through and actually vote for it and support it because they don't know trans people,' Richards said during an interview on set in Nashville. 

'It's because we're not on TV shows. We're not in the movies.' 

'The string band itself came from plantation culture': The lead singer of the African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops said: 'It is time for the real history of country music to have more of a highlight'

The changes behind the scenes include new showrunners Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, who created the show Thirtysomething and were executive producers on My So-Called Life.

'We wanted to explore the diversity of music that's going on in Nashville,' Herskovitz said. 'To bring in people of different ethnicities and from different backgrounds just felt important.'  

Herskovitz said the show will address Richards' gender later in the season, but said many people likely will not even notice in the first episodes.

'I don't think Nashville is a political show and it's not meant to be a political show, but I think it would be very hard to look at Jen and say, "Oh, that person should use a man's bathroom,"' Herskovitz said.

Rayna, played by Connie, finds a revelation after hearing a blind man singing Wayfaring Stranger, an Appalachian tune estimated to be two centuries old

Richards said being the first open transgender actor on CMT is hugely significant to changing perceptions about the transgender community.

'Something like Nashville, which is very popular in middle America and in the South, it's going to reach people who might not have known anything about trans folks or ever seen one or met one or gotten to know their stories,' Richards said.

'So this kind of thing can make a big difference.'  

Music will also play a huge part in the show as always and Giddens, the lead singer of the African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops said: 'I have spent so much of my life studying and playing music that has gone into country music: the banjo, the fiddle, the string band tunes.'

Fans of contemporary country music may recognize Giddens, who sings the hymn in the first episode, from her duet with Eric Church on the Country Music Association Awards show in November.

'It is time for the real history of country music to have more of a highlight, for people to know that there were lots of black people who played the banjo, that the string band itself came from plantation culture,' said Giddens. 

Safe landing? Hayden will return for season five after the fate of her character was literally up in the air as Nashville finished its fourth season in May with Juliette seemingly involved in a plane crash

Meanwhile Hayden will return as country pop singer Juliette Barnes for season five after the fate of her character was literally up in the air as Nashville finished its fourth season in May with Juliette seemingly involved in a plane crash.

She will be joined in the music-oriented drama by co-stars Connie Britton as country queen Rayna James and Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne.

Sam Palladio, Jonathan Jackson, Clare Bowen, and Chris Carmack are also returning for season five. 

The new season - which was cancelled by ABC after four seasons and will premiere on CMT on January 5 - will be available on Hulu.