‘Nashville’ Star Charles Esten Talks About The Season Three Premiere And Deacon’s Battle With Luke

Nashville's season three premiere aired on Wednesday night and it was full of drama, love and lots of music. Charles Esten, who plays Deacon Claybourne, opened up about the season premiere, his live musical performance and the love triangle we've all been talking about in a blog post for People.

A unique aspect to the season three premiere was the three live performances from the iconic Bluebird Café in Nashville. Charles was one of live performances that took place this week and he was flawless. The 49-year-old actor explained the origin of the song titled "I Know How to Love You Now," which he co-wrote with Deana Carter in his post.

Although the song sounds like it was a love song written for Deacon and Rayna (played by Connie Britton) that wasn't what originally intended it to be. "I had this title, 'So Many Sorrys Ago.' Deana said let's make that a lyric," he said.

"When [Nashville creator] Callie Khouri was writing the final episode of the second season, she told me Deacon was going to propose to Rayna and asked if there was anything I'd like to say. I told her we wrote this song called 'I Know How to Love you Now.' She wrote that into Deacon's proposal in the kitchen," Charles wrote.

"[Then over the summer] Callie and the showrunner called to say they wanted me to sing 'I Know How to Love You Now' in the first episode. And oh yeah, they wanted me to do it live!"

In Wednesday's episode, Deacon's niece Scarlett decided to come back to Nashville, Juliette discovered she is pregnant and Rayna picked Luke over Deacon. Although every part of the show was important, the love triangle with Rayna, Luke and Deacon is at the center of it all.

"I love the fact that Deacon has strong competition in Luke (Will Chase). He's no slouch. He's formidable competition," Charles revealed.

"When I was live on stage, there was that montage where you you can tell Rayna was happy, but when she was alone you can also tell she was thinking about Deacon. It wasn't as easy as she thought. That's what makes Connie Britton so great. She can put that exact look on her face."

Tune in next week to see what Deacon does next to try and win Rayna's heart and finally live happily ever after.