Nashville Star 6 (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Season 6 of Nashville Star, the annual reality show and singing competition, premiered on NBC on June 9, 2008 at 9PM Eastern/Pacific. The show moved to NBC from USA Network, which had inaugurated the show and broadcast it for five seasons. For the first time, auditions were open also for duets and singing trios. The first 5 seasons on USA Network only allowed for solo acts.

Billy Ray Cyrus hosted the sixth season. The season featured judges Jeffrey Steele, John Rich, and Jewel (who hosted Season Five). For the first time, the judges were also acting as mentors to the finalists, and John Rich would produce the winner's album. The winner would get a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, a Toyota Tundra pickup truck, and the opportunity to perform at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The performance, which had been set for the closing ceremony, was canceled for unknown reasons.

Guest performers for the 2008 season included Taylor Swift, Trace Adkins, and Danity Kane. Melissa Lawson won the 6th series with Gabe Garcia second, Shawn Mayer third and Coffey Anderson fourth.

Early process

For Season 6, auditions were held in the following cities:

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Saddle Ridge - February 9, 2008
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Serb Memorial, Presidents Hall - February 9, 2008
• Charlotte, North Carolina: Coyote Joe's - February 13, 2008
• Kansas City, Missouri: The Beaumont Club - February 13, 2008
• Tallahassee, Florida: Floyd's Record Shop - February 17, 2008
• Denver, Colorado: The Grizzly Rose - February 17, 2008
• New Orleans, Louisiana: 3301 Veterans Memorial Blvd. - February 21, 2008
• Portland, Oregon: Rose Quarter/Memorial Coliseum Exhibition Hall - February 21, 2008

Contestants were required to be aged 16 and over as at March 29, 2009.

Promotion and Reception

Its heavily-promoted first broadcast, a two-hour premiere, earned a 2.2 rating, its first hour finishing fourth and its second hour finishing second among the four major networks. Despite the relatively low ratings for a network show, the premiere attracted the most viewers for a single episode in the show's history, outdrawing all episodes broadcast on USA Network. The second episode fared less well, losing 18 percent of its debut audience, resulting in lower ratings than the Spanish-language Univision network.

The sixth season also brought Nashville Star to the American CMT network for the first time. The cable network rebroadcast each episode the following Friday. Beginning with the show's second episode, CMT's Katie Cook joined the show as a correspondent.

For the first time in the show's history, a companion radio show was developed to complement the television program. Called Nashville Star Radio, it debuted each Thursday evening on XM's "Highway 16". NSR featured the week's performances from the television show, as well as exclusive in-studio performances and interviews with the finalists and judges.

AT&T became a major sponsor of the show, placing their logo on screen with each finalist's call-in vote line. AT&T sponsored the same service on American Idol. Also, Toyota replaced Chevrolet as a sponsor, and offered its signature Tundra pickup as a prize to the winner.

Top 12 participants

Coffey Anderson

Coffey Anderson (also written Cofféy Anderson), 28, was originally from Bangs, Texas but was a Los Angeles, California resident. He finished in Top 4 and was also briefly a contestant on season 2 of American Idol in 2003, making it to the Hollywood round. He has released four albums: Southern Man, Me and You and the spiritual Chrstian albums Inspiration Vol. 1 and Worship Unplugged 1. He enjoys huge popularity online, particularly with his compositions "Memphis", "Southern Man", "Rock 'n Roll Sally", "All Ye", "Let me Love You" and "Can I". He also has his own indie label Coffey Entertainment, LLC.

Gabe Garcia

Gabe Garcia, 28, was originally from Lytle, Texas but lived in Dickson, Tennessee. He finished runner-up and went on to form the Gabe Garcia Band

Justin Gaston

Justin Gaston, 19, was originally from Pineville, Louisiana and now lives in Los Angeles, California, perhaps best known for his nine-month relationship with Miley Cyrus. He is a former cast member of the internet series If I Can Dream. He also portrayed Taylor Swift's main love interest in her music video, "Love Story."

Alyson Gilbert

Alyson Gilbert, 28, was originally from Crookston, Minnesota and but was a Jackson, Tennessee resident.

Ashlee Hewitt

Ashlee Hewitt, 20, was originally from Lancaster, Minnesota and living in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with her sister Katrice, Ashlee performed more than 100 shows a year for over six years before her move to Nashville. She has been active in charitable events such as the "Supercell Benefit" for families who lost everything due to tornadoes hitting Tennessee, with proceeds going to the Nashville Red Cross. She also starred in the movie Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale which was released in 2010. She created seven songs for the movie which are available in MP3 download format.

Charles Jenkins

Charley Jenkins, 29, was originally from Roosevelt, Utah but was living in Murray, Utah.

Melissa Lawson

Melissa Lawson, 32, was originally from Arlington, Texas but lived in Dalworthington Gardens, Texas. Lawson made it to the Top 75 on season 4 of American Idol.

Laura and Sophie

Laura and Sophie was a duo made up of Laura Fedor, 18, and Sophie Zalokar, 16, both from Willoughby, Ohio. With the release of "Teddy Gentry's Best New Nashville" through the Cracker Barrel music program in all 601 Cracker Barrel locations in 42 states, sixth-placer Laura Fedor becomes the first ever non-major-label-signed artist to be allowed in their music program, and the only artist besides the winner to have a prominent national release on a respected label.

Shawn Mayer

Shawn Mayer, 21, was originally from May City, Iowa and lived in Madison, Tennessee. She finished second runner-up.

Pearl Heart

Pearl Heart, consisted of twin sisters Amy and Angela, 20, and their younger sister Courtney Krechel, 17, who were originally from Florissant, Missouri and living in Thompson's Station, Tennessee

Tommy Stanley

Tommy Stanley, 23, a US navy sailor, was originally from Kirbyville, Texas but was living on the USS Kitty Hawk.

Third Town

Third Town consists of Jeffrey Fairchild, 37, James A. Kouns (aka Little Tony), 29, and Tony Mosti, 35 who are from San Antonio, Texas and now live in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Results

Place	Name	Sex	Age	Hometown	Week Eliminated
1	Melissa Lawson	F	32	Arlington, Texas	Winner
2	Gabe Garcia	M	28	Lytle, Texas	Finale (August 4, 2008)
3	Shawn Mayer	F	21	May City, Iowa	Finale (August 4, 2008)
4	Coffey Anderson	M	28	Bangs, Texas	Week 8 (July 28, 2008)
5	Ashlee Hewitt	F	20	Lancaster, Minnesota	Week 7 (July 22, 2008)
6	Laura and Sophie Laura Fedor Sophie Zalokar	F F	18 16	Willoughby, Ohio	Week 6 (July 14, 2008)
7	Pearl Heart Amy Krechel Angela Krechel Courtney Krechel	F F F	20 20 17	Florissant, Missouri	Week 5 (July 7, 2008)
8	Tommy Stanley	M	23	Cushing, Oklahoma	Week 5 (July 7, 2008)
9	Alyson Gilbert	F	28	Crookston, Minnesota	Week 4 (June 30, 2008)
10	Justin Gaston	M	19	Pineville, Louisiana	Week 3 (June 23, 2008)
11	Third Town Jeffrey Fairchild James A. Kouns Tony Mosti	M M M	37 29 35	Las Vegas, Nevada (via San Antonio, Texas)	Week 2 (June 16, 2008)
12	Charley Jenkins	M	29	Roosevelt, Utah	Premiere (June 9, 2008) (Judges' decision)

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