Hayden Panettiere on Baring All for 'Nashville'

ABC's most talked about new show, Nashville, marks a few firsts for Hayden Panettiere, as she sings for the first time in an acting role and takes her clothes off.

"It's something new," Panettiere said of shedding her garments. "It's a very interesting role as an actor, and that's why I was really drawn to it."

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Nashville is the saga of two rival female country music stars, played by Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) and Panettiere (Heroes). Britton's character, Rayna James, is a country legend past her prime, who is denigrated to opening for Panettiere's character, the up-and-coming Juliette Barnes.

The ladies do their own singing on the show. Panettiere recorded an album when she was younger, but this marked new territory for the 22-year-old.

"It's not something that either one of us has done in combination before with acting," said Hayden.

Co-stars Clare Bowen (Home and Away) and Sam Palladio (Episodes) on the other hand felt right at home with the musical components of the project.

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"I'm a singer/songwriter as well [as an actor] ... so to combine the two is a bit of a dream," said Palladio.

Regardless of the extent of their musical background, the entire cast displayed talents so impressive that their have been talks of releasing their songs on the radio, according to Palladio.

"They're certainly worthy of it," said the actor, praising the work of Elvis Costello and The Civil Wars as songwriters for the show.

Nashville premieres October 10 at 10 p.m. on ABC.