Country music star LeAnn Rimes, who belted the hit song “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” will mix it up in her first juicy villain role on ABC’s new spinoff, “9-1-1: Nashville.”
The two-time Grammy winner, 43, will play single mom Dixie Bennings in the Ryan Murphy-produced series, set and shot in Music City. Dixie will raise the temperature clashing with Blythe Hart (Jessica Capshaw), the wife of Nashville Fire Capt. Don Hart (Chris O’Donnell).
“It will get heated; there’s definitely drama between them,” Rimes tells USA TODAY, revealing her emotional firestarter role that kicks off Oct. 9 (Thursdays, 9 ET/PT, streaming next day on Hulu). “Especially when I was younger, I’ve had to hold up to this (wholesome) image. It’s so nice and healing to dig into this other side. “
Jessica Capshaw and LeAnn Rimes on “9-1-1: Nashville.”
Rimes, who achieved country music superstardom in 1996 at age 13 with her debut album, “Blue,” provided the “Moonlight” singing voice for Piper Perabo’s dancing bartender in the 2000 hit “Coyote Ugly.” (Rimes also danced on the bar in the song’s video).
“9-1-1” gives Rimes “a totally new angle for me,” Rimes says. “Something about Dixie kind of took me over. It’s a blast.” Rimes posted a tease of a leopard-print-clad Dixie on her Instagram page to The Prodigy song “Firestarter” saying “I can’t wait for y’all to meet Dixie.”
LeAnn Rimes as Dixie Bennings on “9-1-1: Nashville.”
These first-look photos are set in the modest Nashville home of Dixie, where Rimes has shot early scenes. “I haven’t been dragged into the rescues yet,” she says.
LeAnn Rimes bought cigarettes for the first time to play former smoker Dixie
Rimes, who says Capshaw is “wonderful” despite their onscreen feud, had to learn to work with unlit cigarettes before auditioning to play Dixie, a former smoker who constantly fidgets with a cigarette substitute.
“I have never picked up a cigarette in my life,” Rimes says. “But I went and bought a pack of cigarettes. And I sit around the house with an unlit cigarette making it look real. Dixie has her vices. If it’s not a cigarette in her hand, it’s a glass of wine.”
Rimes is just one of the many country music luminaries appearing on the new show, the second “9-1-1” spin-off following Fox’s now-canceled “9-1-1: Lone Star.” MacKenzie Porter plays ER doctor Samantha Hart, Kimberly Williams‑Paisley (the wife of Brad Paisley) is Cammie Raleigh, the primary 911 dispatcher, and singer Kane Brown guest-stars as himself in the premiere.
Dixie Bennings (LeAnn Rimes) has a heart-to-heart with her firefighter son Blue (Hunter McVey) on “9-1-1: Nashville.”
Rimes, who will sing vocals for Dixie’s music, understands her frustrations with the biz.
“You’ll see Dixie struggling around music; that’s part of the storyline,” she says. “But she’s not all country music. Dixie is similar to me in that she can sing it all.”
Dixie is ‘obsessed’ with her dreamy screen son Blue
She might have the trouble bone in her body. But no one can dispute Dixie’s love for her dreamy son, the bad-boy firefighter Blue Bennings (Instagram fitness star Hunter McVey, in his acting debut), even if sometimes the love can be a little twisted.
Dixie Bennings (LeAnn Rimes) has a heart-to-heart with her firefighter son Blue (Hunter McVey) on “9-1-1: Nashville.”
“One thing you need to know about Dixie is that she very much loves her son. She’s obsessed with and adores him,” Rimes says. “But she is not above manipulating that love for all it’s worth.”
Husband Eddie Cibrian helps LeAnn Rimes’ Nashville role
The fallout over the affair between costars Rimes and Eddie Cibrian in the 2009 Lifetime murder-mystery-romance “Northen Lights” is literally old news. The couple have been married for 13 years. Cibrian runs lines with Rimes and calms his wife’s nerves on the set. He’s so helpful that Rimes vows to pay back the onetime 3Deep boy band singer with voice lessons.
“I told him that if you ever bring back the boy band days, I will give you singing lessons.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LeAnn Rimes revealed as ‘911 Nashville’ villain Dixie Bennings