Image Courtesy ABCABC’s Nashville returned Wednesday night with Layla Grant on the mend following her brush with death on the winter finale. You’ll recall Layla took a lot of pills and was discovered floating face down in the pool at her record label president Jeff Fordham‘s house. Once she regained consciousness in the hospital, Layla told her closeted country star husband, Will Lexington, his secret was literally killing her.

Since Jeff Fordham gave Layla the pills that led to her overdose, he negotiated a deal with the TV producer blackmailing Will and Layla into continuing their hit reality series to let the miserable couple out of their contract. With that hurdle out of the way, Will agreed to divorce Layla. Jeff was keeping watch over Layla in her hospital room, so sparks may be flying between the two of them soon.

Gunnar Scott went to court seeking custody of Micah, the son of his ex-girlfriend, Kylie, and his late brother, Jason. Since Kylie left town, Gunnar has been raising Micah as his son, so Gunnar was shocked to learn the truth about Micah’s paternity thanks to a court-ordered DNA test. Micah’s grandparents came to Nashville, won custody and ended up taking the boy back to Arizona. Micah felt betrayed when Gunnar turned out to be his uncle instead of his father, but it looks like they will be able to mend fences over time.

Deacon Claybourne struggled to come to terms with his liver cancer diagnosis brought on by his years of heavy drinking. The love of his life, country superstar Rayna Jaymes, called off her wedding to fellow superstar Luke Wheeler, but that didn’t mean she was ready to run back to Deacon just yet. Rayna showed up at Deacon’s house at the end of the episode to confess her love for him. When Rayna asked for more time to deal with her feelings, Deacon told her to take all the time she needs. Unfortunately, Deacon has a very aggressive form of cancer that will claim his life if he doesn’t find a liver donor soon.

After Rayna broke off the engagement, Luke Wheeler went over to Deacon’s house for a confrontation that led to a brawl on Deacon’s front lawn. A neighbor posted a video of the fight online, and Rayna saw it once it went viral. She went back to Luke’s house just hours after she jilted him to smooth things over, but Luke accused her of using their relationship to get her stalled singing career back on track.

Instead of throwing out all the alcohol and food for the wedding, Luke invited his fans to come to his place for an impromptu party and concert later that night. The song he sang for the fans, “If I Drink This Beer,” captured the hurt Luke was feeling over the breakup. Will Chase, who plays Luke, tells ABC News Radio he was glad to see that vulnerable side of his character come out in the song.

“This song is more about, ‘You know what? If I have one beer too many, I’m probably gonna call you up and tell you actually how I feel from my heart’,” Will says. “I love that moment. There’s the anger in it, but there’s also this finally getting to see some of that heartening stuff for Luke, which I get to do more of in this second half of this season.”

Will is quick to praise songwriter Jonathan Singleton for writing and recording the demo version of “If I Drink This Beer.”

Will says, “I tried to mimic his voice, ’cause his voice is so cool. And it fit the moment absolutely perfectly.”

“If I Drink This Beer” is now available at iTunes. Nashville returns with another new episode next Wednesday night at 10 Eastern time on ABC.


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