Country Comfort is pretty much what it sounds like, from the title. It’s country, and it’s comforting. Light. It’s not a very deep show, and it’s not a super complex one. The setup is simple: there’s a family, there’s music, and they find comfort in each other, and in well …the music. Think of it like The Sound of Music meets country!
We had a chance to talk to star Ricardo Hurtado about Country Comfort, what it means to be on a show that, in so many ways, spoke to his roots – he was raised in Atlanta – and balancing acting and music, and the first thing we can tell you is that Ricardo had a blast filming Country Comfort. You can tell by the way he spoke about it, and also, he was very specific about how much he enjoyed it.
“It’s definitely such an incredibly experience to be part of this project,” he said, right off. “It’s such a fun, such a musical project and just so family oriented, which I love about it, and something we pretty much need nowadays.”
There’s a certain comfort, ha, the puns just write themselves, about a show that isn’t trying to be more than just kind of that guilty pleasure that we’ve all learned during this pandemic shouldn’t actually make us feel guilty, because there’s a certain power to just loving what makes you feel good.
Plus, as Ricardo made clear, this is a show with “a lot of good family values,” that truly spoke to him because of it. “I just loved getting to be a part of a project like that and I’m very excited for everyone to see it,” he shared with us, and it was clear his enthusiasm wasn’t just about the project, but also about the people he’d shared a screen with.
“I just love how musical the show is, and I love that everyone in my cast is so musically talented,” he said, adamant that the show worked because he was surrounded by some truly talented, extraordinary actors. And as someone who truly enjoys musical shows, I will say, the musical numbers are some of the best parts of this show.
Ricardo especially has fun memories about a particular scene, from the Pilot, where they “get to sing as a group together and everyone who gets to watch that, it’s such a cool experience, it’s a very heartfelt moment.”
The show, in general, is. It feels like shows dealing with grief, which were a rarity on TV, have become much and more common. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, WandaVision, and now Country Comfort are all trying, in different ways, to explore loss in a realistic, nuanced way. And as someone who has experienced the loss of a parent, it means a lot to see TV tackle it head-on.
Ricardo not only understood, he agreed. “One of the things I love the most about this project, there’s a lot of comedy, but there’s a lot of heartfelt moments, especially Tuck, it’s not all comedy for him, there’s also some layers to him that you get to see, in regards to the loss of his mother, you get to see some layers that are more dramatic.”
This holds true of all characters, because the show is really about dealing with grief, about finding the things that heal you, and about holding on to memory, and family. It’s a “very light way to handle grief, it’s heartfelt, but it’s also very funny, you get really involved with the story, really connected to the characters, they’re very relatable.”
Except for the part where they’re all better singers than we are.
Ricardo also got the opportunity – spoiler alert – to do some singing in Spanish, something that means a lot to him, because as he shared with me, switching into Spanish in a full Nicaraguan accent, his parents are from Nicaragua.
And though this is more a country show than anything else, for him, for me, to see Ricardo get cast in what is basically a country project means a lot, because it means latine actors like him are not getting pigeonholed into roles that only fit the stereotypes other people see us as.
Like Ricardo himself told us: “I grew up speaking Spanish, but I also grew up with the country folks, and it’s so funny that I was able to get the accent from the South. I did live in Georgia for almost 15 years.”
As for the future, Ricardo shared that he “love(s) comedy, most of what (he’s) done has been comedic stuff” and he also loves “getting to combine both of (his) passions: music and acting,” so we get the feeling that whether it be more Country Comfort or something else, we’re going to be seeing a lot of this side of Ricardo Hurtado.
But never rule out the more dramatic side. If Country Comfort has proven anything, it’s that he’s got the chops to pull it off.
Country Comfort is available to stream now on Netflix.
