Markus Keen is pretty much the Great White Hope for Rayna James’ Highway 65 music label on Nashville, but that doesn’t mean he’s been easy to deal with. First, he fired every producer that Rayna wanted him to work with (including Avery Barkley, who we all know is a genius), then he got Rayna on board to produce his album, only to continuously veto every song he recorded. Oh, and he was set to release his album a week later. Come on, dude. Finally, Rayna had the brilliant idea to bring Deacon in on all of this. Markus and Deacon’s Nashville collaboration started out just fine, but we had to know that the harmony (pun intended) wasn’t going to last.
Markus is a true musician — that’s not his problem. No, the issue is his annoying ego. He chose an old demo of Deacon’s to record, which Deacon and Rayna were pleased as punch about, but Deacon stopped being happy about all of it when Markus started changing lyrics of his songs. He was even saltier when Rayna sided with Markus’ version of the song over the original. Oh, Rayna — don’t you know that Deacon is way too fragile to deal with this?
Deacon, of course, picked a fight with Rayna about how Markus is obviously in lust with her (which he probably is), and Rayna was all “you know what I’m dealing with!” Honestly, none of this should come as a surprise to Rayna. She’s been with Deacon on and off for 20 years, and he’s proven to be not just sensitive, but really good at holding a grudge. Rayna went to Markus to tell him that she loved Deacon and hoped Markus didn’t get the wrong impression. I have to say — Markus looked mighty disappointed after that speech.
So what happens now? Markus is Highway 65’s only artist, so Rayna’s whole livelihood rests on him. She has to tread carefully here, because she can’t offend him and lose her business, but she also has to stand up for her relationship. Of course, Deacon needs to get his act together and realize that business is usually just business. Rayna and Deacon made up by the end of Nashville, but as long as Markus is around, I don't think this is the end of Deacon’s jealousy.
Images: Mark Levine/ABC; Giphy
