‘Nashville’ Season 4 Spoilers: Meet Rayna’s New Troublemaking Artist

Highway 65 Records will get a little bigger in “Nashville” Season 4. Riley Smith has been cast as Markus Kane, Rayna’s (Connie Britton) newest artist. However, he’ll cause quite a bit of trouble on the ABC drama.

The “True Detective” actor will be around all season, TV Line reports. He’ll play the lead singer of a successful band who wants to go solo as a country artist. Markus decides to sign with Highway 65 after “Rayna promises to help him strip down his sound and help him break into country,” according to TV Line. As previously reported, his ego will get the best of him when he realizes how much Rayna needs a successful artist. Rayna has to get a big album from one of her artists if she wants the label to survive, but she’ll have to figure out how to handle Markus' narcissistic attitude.

Markus might consider toning down the attitude when he realizes that Rayna has other talent that could give him a run for his money. Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Scarlett (Clare Bowen) signed on to Rayna’s label at the end of Season 3, and Layla (Aubrey Peeples) is also still around. With Peeples being upgraded to a series regular for “Nashville” Season 4, her character might be fighting for Rayna’s attention more often this season. Will Layla be in competition with Markus the same way she often was with Juliette (Hayden Panettiere)?

Fans will have to wait until September to see what kind of trouble Markus will find himself in, but they can get a preview of his music will sound like. Smith’s voice will be on the “Nashville” Season 4 soundtracks, but fans can already hear him on his own albums. His band the Life of Riley has released a few albums independently. Check out his music below:

“Nashville” Season 4 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.