Charles Esten, Clare Bowen play Mayo PAC

Fans of “Nashville” need to be warned: The two people who are doing a series of concerts are not Scarlett O’Connor and her uncle, Deacon Claybourne.

The performers are, instead, Clare Bowen and Charles Esten, the actors who bring those two characters to life in the ABC musical-drama series.

So when Bowen and Esten take the stage of the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Oct. 17, they will do it as themselves, not as their fictional counterparts.

Bowen does acknowledge some similarities with Scarlett. “We share a moral compass,” she says. “She’s a little shyer than I am. She’s the anti-fame person. I enjoy meeting people, but I’m also a private person.”

She also shares affinity for country music with the character, even though Scarlett hails from Mississippi and Bowen was born in Australia.

“We lived in the middle of nowhere, and a lot of my childhood soundtrack came from nature,” Bowen says. “We listened to a lot of vinyl, and I loved people like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash.”

When she was about nine, Bowen began writing poems and stories. “But I never showed them to anybody,” she admits. “That’s another way I’m like Scarlett.”

“I come from a family of storytellers and poets and eccentrics. I really like telling stories,” Bowen says. “You’re able to teach people and put some kindness and compassion in the world.”

Bowen sees acting as an extension of that storytelling. She says she has always been attracted to projects with a strong storyline, such as an Australian stage production of the musical “Spring Awakening” and the film “The Combination.”

When Bowen read the script for the pilot of “Nashville” (written by Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Thelma and Louise”), she knew she wanted to play Scarlett. “I fell in love with her,” Bowen says. “I understood who she was.”

The series, which is now in its third season, has proven to be everything that Bowen hoped it would be from that initial script. “We have wonderful writers who are telling these stories. I’m very grateful to be entrusted with this character.”

In addition, Bowen says she is honored to work with the musicians involved in “Nashville,” especially producers T-Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller. “They know everybody in the business, and they bring so much,” she says.

The TV series has given Bowen the chance to tour, on her own and with other members of the cast. She enjoys the concert format because it allows her to perform material that she might not otherwise get to do as Scarlett.

One of those moments came in 2014, when she joined the Zac Brown Band in a live medley of the group’s song “Free” and the Van Morrison song “Into the Mystic.”

Her current concerts with Charles Esten are scheduled around the shooting of the current season of “Nashville.” The two performers do individual sets before joining together on stage.

“He’s a wonderful actor,” says Bowen of Esten. “It’s great to be out there with someone who is so enthusiastic. We have a good rapport on the show, and I think we have it on the stage.”

The concert will also allow Bowen to showcase the original songs she has been writing for her upcoming solo album. “There’s nothing like singing your own words in front of other people,” she says.

The album will include covers of songs that Bowen characterizes as “songs that I’ve always wanted to do.” But the bulk of the album will be original material by Bowen.

“I’ve never written an album before,” Bowen says. “I want it to encompass everything. It’s exciting and a little bit scary.”

CLARE BOWEN AND CHARLES ESTEN

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17

WHERE: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St.,

Morristown

TICKETS: $39 to $89

INFORMATION: 973-539-8008 or www.mayoarts.org