Make It Up As We Go Audio Up Media

After Charlotte’s father dies suddenly of a heart attack, Apollo, Emily, and Elliot come to Canyon to attend the funeral and rally around Charlotte. Marshall shows up and surprises everyone, clean and recovered, ready to get back to work. Emily recognizes the weight of Charlotte losing another parent, and implores her to unpack her grief by doing what she does best: writing songs. So, she offers them a space at a writing retreat in the Texas Hill Country at the world famous Wayside Ranch. Charlotte is on the fence about the retreat, but a call from Miranda Lambert expresses condolences and encourages her to go write at Wayside. As they are packing up to leave, a tornado touches down in Marshall’s hometown outside Shreveport, so he peels off east to help his family. As the dust settles, and Charlotte is hit by the loneliness on a moonlit Texas front porch of a house that used to be a home, she starts writing “Gone in the Morning”...

Charlotte heads to Wayside Ranch in Hill Country and Marshall arrives at his childhood home, while Elliot and Apollo hatch a plan to turn Charlotte into a star. Charlotte meets Lawford Keane, the humble heartthrob and caretaker of Wayside ranch, and they hit it off immediately. Marshall’s hometown was hit hard, and although his house has barely evaded destruction, the old family demons are still on full display. At an unsightly reunion, the skeletons in the Tracy family closet are paraded through the devastated Shreveport streets. His struggling parents, their dysfunctional marriage, and the younger brother he left behind to deal with it all take a heavy emotional toll on Marshall. While he is forced to reconcile his past and present, Charlotte is tested professionally and emotionally amongst the best and brightest songwriters in Texas.

As the writing retreat comes to a close, Charlotte and Co. prepare for a showcase at an upstart venue outside of Austin. Apollo and Elliot carpool down for the show, and Apollo delivers the news that he’s been tapped as a vocal coach on American Idol with their old pal Bobby Bones. Marshall makes things right with his brother, vows not to turn out like his fading father, and high tails it back to Texas just in time for the show. Emily hits the dating apps, Charlotte brings down the house, and Elliot fends off the competing publishing companies and major label wolves who take notice of Charlotte’s rising stock.

Charlotte and Marshall return to Nashville, where Charlotte’s name is quickly gaining
traction as an emerging act. The Carmelina boardrooms echo with differing opinions on
the best way forward. Elliot digs in when they tell him he’s in over his head, and claims
he can handle every aspect of her career, but Marshall and Charlotte take meetings with
other publishing companies and major label A&R’s anyway. One of the songs Charlotte
wrote at the camp gets cut by a big artist who’s rough around the edges, but the single
comes out of the gate hot. Before they meet him in the studio, Marshall warns Charlotte
about his reputation around women, but Charlotte insists she can handle herself. The
session is rough, he’s creepy and disrespectful, but Charlotte sees it through. With
attention growing and paperwork looming, Charlotte seeks advice from Emily and
Miranda on record deals, touring, and management, and Miranda invites her to come to
one of her Texas tour dates. We see Charlotte facing the big question of season two: do
I want to be a songwriter or an artist?

Charlotte goes to Miranda’s show and sees her perform “Champion” live in front of the bright lights and screaming crowd. Looking at the adoring fans belting out the words to her song, she realizes she’s reached the pinnacle of a songwriter, and wants more. While Marshall works on producing the new album with Van, Charlotte negotiates with an increasingly distracted and overwhelmed Elliot. She thinks he’s got too much on his plate, but he’s too stubborn to give an inch. When he finds out she’s taken meetings with other publishing companies, he blows up on Charlotte about loyalty. She explains that however grateful she may be for the opportunities afforded by the chance Elliot took on her, she refuses to owe him forever, and deserves the respect and credit for what her talent has built. Marshall and Emily step in and convince Elliot to delegate. If they all want to succeed, they’re going to need help. They expand Charlotte’s team, and rehabilitate Carmelina Publishing’s relationships that Elliot has soured with his monolithic approach during his decade in Nashville. With the help and recommendations of her new team, Charlotte negotiates a record deal for her debut album. Marshall and Charlotte celebrate with a rare date night alone, where Marshall surprises both Charlotte and himself with a vulnerability and capacity to express his love with the same authenticity of his songwriting.

Charlotte gets gussied up for her first charity event performance, where she mingles with some of Nashville's top talent- Kat & Alex, Liz Rose, Tyler Rich, Abby Anderson, just to name a few. After a night of performing and navigating the ins and outs of various relationships, Charlotte and her crew hit the town for some good old-fashioned boot-scooting!