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NOTHING BUT LOVE
I’m a major US actor who starred in The Office and Nashville – now I’ve switched careers and am coming to the UK
Charles Esten opens up on his songcraft, landing a role in The Office, and his live show
HE played the rugged, flawed country music heartthrob Deacon Claybourne in hit US show Nashville.
And now six years after his character said a fond farewell to fans in an emotional finale, multi-talented star Charles Esten is focusing on a music career under his own name.
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Having conquered stage and screen - Charles' impressive credit list includes a two year run in The Buddy Holly Story in the West End, he was a regular on legendary comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway? and featured in the beloved US version of The Office as good boss Josh Porter - the star wants to put the music first.
Though he's played guitar and written songs all his life, and even holds a Guinness World Record for releasing the most consecutive digital singles - 54 to be precise over 54 weeks - Charles has only just released his first album: Love Ain't Pretty.
The warm, heartfelt record is full of character, charm, ballads and rousing anthems.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Charles, 58, explained why nothing matters more to him than the music right now.
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With a glint in his eye, he said: "When I was in Nashville, I always sort of refused to answer that with a glib response that I don't have to choose, I'm getting to do them both right now, and in a sense, that's true, but I think in a deeper way, if I'm honest, it's the music.
"Here's a few reasons why. The music, by far, was first. I was singing, playing, and writing long before I went to Los Angeles to start acting.
It's also the most constant. There's long stretches where I wasn't working or wasn't acting. I just didn't have a role at that point.
Believe me, I was playing and writing music every day, even right now.
"I finished [Netflix drama] Outer Banks a little over a year ago, I believe, and I've done a couple independent films since then, but mostly it's been all eyes on this, on just finishing up this album and now doing what I can to give people an opportunity to hear it, and then finally, I will say somewhere down the road, and I'm not pointing at exactly where it is, I have no idea, I can imagine
a place where maybe I'm not acting much anymore. I'm talking much later now. I honestly can't imagine a place where I'm not making, playing, singing, performing music that would be hard for me to imagine."
Like any troubadour worth their salt, Charles will road test his music across Europe and the UK this spring, with his run on our shores culminating at the historic London Palladium.
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His time in the West End aside, Charles has performed huge sold out gigs in the capital as part of the Nashville ensemble.
He and other stars from the show took to the stage at London's O2 Arena, The Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo to perform some of its best-loved tracks.
Charles Chip Esten starring in Nashville as Deacon Claybourne
Then there is the small matter of the 160 gigs he has performed at Nashville country music institution The Grand Ole Opry.
While his solo concerts are more of a low-key affair, fans can expect the sets to include the odd Deacon track as well as stories from Charles, who values nothing more than forging human connection.
He said: "It's more directly me. There's more of a conversation
with me and we're not serving any other master than just
me, trying to connect in the most personal way possible. That'll include my songs. It'll include Deacon songs. It'll include a few covers that you might not expect."
The stripped back stage set-up will enable Charles to get to the heart of his songs and share their raw emotive power.
It was a bit of like winning a radio contest to be on your favourite show
Charles Esten
"The first time I did this, honestly, it was probably out of economics," he said. "I'm going to tour the UK. I don't know if I can bring a whole band right now. Let me go see how it goes on my own. And I tell you what, one or two shows in I was like, 'I like this'. So why to bring the album back in this way, at least first, and just going in and sing these songs, and and share the back and forth of this music with them. So that's how it's different."
One of those tracks could be the deeply personal album closer Somewhere in the Sunshine, which Charles wrote while a close friend was nearing the end of his cancer battle.
The song tells the story of someone who has passed away communicating to loved ones from the other side and reassuring them that where they are now is beautiful.
"It's a quick postcard from the other side," he said. "From somebody that you love dearly, that loves you dearly and just wants you to know that everything's okay. In fact, it's way more than okay. It's beautiful. They're not just okay. They're somewhere in the sunshine. So that's the essence of that song."
The comments underneath the track on YouTube have resonated with Charles who was struck by the sheer number of people relating to the track and sharing their own personal stories of loss.
He said: "Every single one of them gets me like 'I lost my father a year ago, and this feels like my father is talking to me and telling me it's okay'. Somebody else said, 'I had a dream, and my husband, who I lost, said exactly that words you should see'. This place is the first line of the song. And so again and again, that's the contact I'm talking about. The person to person sharing that an idea in a room moves a heart across an ocean."
Britain and London in particular hold a special place in Charles' heart.
He got to meet his musical idol during his time playing Buddy Holly on stage. Sir Paul McCartney graciously signed his Beatles songbook when he attended the legendary musician's birthday party at the Victoria Palace, the theatre in which Buddy was running.
Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler and Elvis Costello are also big influences on Charles' work.
And as a stand-up comedian himself, he was enamoured with Ricky Gervais' comedy classic The Office when that hit screens in the early noughties.
So much so, that when he realised the US adaptation looked to be a surefire hit, he was desperate to land a place on the programme.
"I loved it so much," he said. "The awkwardness, the ability to sit in those moments, the documentary form which I'd been a fan of from back through to Spinal Tap. And so then, when I heard they were doing it in the States, I have to be honest, I was like 'oh, I don't know'.
"But then I heard that Steve Carell, who I knew a little bit, but I knew who he was and how amazing he was. I heard he was gonna be Michael Scott, I know Rainn Wilson pretty well, actually. And I went 'oh', that was the first time I went this might work. So I watched it like everybody else did, watched a couple of episodes as they found their feet, and they found their voice."
By the end of the second season, Charles was in the fold as Josh Porter, the cool boss from a rival branch of paper company Dunder Mifflin, and viewers watched with glee his opposing management style to Carell's cringeworthy Scott.
Charles likened the pressure of joining the show to the time he starred in the final season of US sitcom Cheers.
He said: "That was a bit of like winning a radio contest to be on your favourite show. It was flat out, and by far my favourite show. So to step onto it was tricky. But all the people are very kind and warm, and to be clear.
"I was pretty much a straight man. The show's so funny that even the straight men were given some great lines and some great opportunities to be funny, but I pretty much knew that I didn't have to force it. You just have to stand there and try not to laugh while Steve was saying his lines, or John Krasinski or Rainn Wilson, or saying their lines. So it was a joy to be on."
But 17 years on, Charles' office is now the stage and there will be no nerves, only big smiles and charming songs when he jets over to the UK in April.
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