“	Why be the cow when you can be the farmer?	”
— Mitchell Kirkwood, on being a producer

The team enter the country-music scene to shut down shady record executive Mitchell Kirkwood.

The Mark

• Mitchell Kirkwood

Clients

Kaye Lynn Gold and her brother Shane, who were cheated out of royalties by Kirkwood. Worse, Kirkwood greatly injured Shane's hands, which means he'll probably never play music again.

Locations

• Memphis, Tennessee
  • the Golds' house
  • Saddlebag Saloon
  • Kirkwood Records
  • exterior (hilly road)
  • unnamed five-star hotel
  • Ribs Ribs & More Ribs restaurant
  • road montage (for the motorcycle ride)
• Boston, Massachusetts
  • John McRory's Place
  • Nate's condo

The Con

• The Fiddle Game.

Aliases

• Eliot Spencer - Kenneth Crane
• Sophie Devereaux - Virginia Ellington
• Alec Hardison - "K-Gent"
• Parker - "Bree"

Collateral Damage

• Hardison gaslit and made JC miserable even though she was doing her job properly and wasn't involved in Kirkwood's evil doings.

Romantic Entanglements

• Eliot hooks up with Kaye Lynn. She tries (and fails) to get him to stay with her.

Guest Cast

• John Schneider as Mitchell Kirkwood
• Alona Tal as Kaye Lynn Gold
• Bruce Blanchard as unnamed thug
• Orianna Herrman as JC

Notes

• Placement of the story in Memphis, TN was controversial among regular series viewers at the time of the original broadcast. Many felt producers had made an error setting the story in a city so strongly associated with blues, and that country music originates solely around Nashville. In actuality, the country music industry has studios and production companies in cities all over the south, and the majority of country music not produced in Nashville is recorded in Los Angeles. For Mitchell Kirkwood to control the industry in a city, he would need a small base of operations, such as in Memphis.

Trivia

• When Nate says "I do love it when a plan comes together," it is a nod to the television show The A-Team. This is the second time a character has said that line, the first was Hardison in The Mile High Job.
• When Kirkwood's cellphone rings, the ringtone is "Dixie," the same tune the General Lee's horn plays in The Dukes of Hazzard.
• The song "Thinking of You" was written by Christian Kane and Blair Daly.
• The fans of Kenneth Crane are called "Craniacs". This parallels Christian Kane's fans who are called "Kaniacs".
• According to the Saddles and Spurs Music Festival schedule, this job takes place in late November.
• Acts on the schedule included Kelly and the Crimmettes, Roger and the Johnathans and the Devlin Desirables, plays on the names of producers Kelly A. Manners, John Rogers and Dean Devlin. Posters for Roger and the Jonathans and Kelly and the Crimmettes appear throughout the episode.
• Hardison's criticism of Eliot in the studio references American Idol judge Randy Jackson's criticism catchphrase, "Little Pitchy, Dawg".
• Despite Hardison saying that the soundboard employee's favorite artist was Brooks & Dunn, none of the songs shown on the computer are actually song by Brooks & Dunn.

Differences in Spanish dub

• The title El Trabajo Discográfico translates to The Record Job.