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. 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 worse, losing 18 percent of its debut audience, resulting in lower ratings than the Spanish-language Univision network. Billy Ray Cyrus hosts the sixth season.

The sixth season features judges Jeffrey Steele, John Rich, and Jewel (who hosted Season Five). For the first time, the judges are also acting as mentors to the finalists, and Rich will produce the winner's album. The winner has been promised 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 sixth season also brings Nashville Star to the American CMT network for the first time. The cable network rebroadcasts 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 has been developed to complement the television program. Nashville Star Radio debuts each Thursday evening on XM's "Highway 16". NSR features the week's performances from the television show, as well as exclusive in-studio performances and interviews with the finalists and judges.

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

Guest Performers for the 2008 season have included Taylor Swift, Trace Adkins, and Danity Kane.

Changes from past seasons

The show moved to NBC from USA Network for the sixth season. For the first time, auditions were open to men and women, solo artists, duets and singing trios.

Early process

Regional auditions

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.

Top 12 finalists

Status/Finish	Name	Sex	Age	Hometown	Week Eliminated
Active	Coffey Anderson	M	28	Bangs, Texas
Active	Gabe Garcia	M	28	Lytle, Texas
Active	Alyson Gilbert	F	28	Crookston, Minnesota
Active	Ashlee Hewitt	F	20	Lancaster, Minnesota
Active	Laura and Sophie Laura Fedor Sophie Zalokar	F F	18 16	Willoughby, Ohio
Active	Melissa Lawson	F	32	Arlington, Texas
Active	Shawn Mayer	F	21	May City, Iowa
Active	Pearl Heart Amy Krechel Angela Krechel Courtney Krechel	F F F	20 20 17	Florissant, Missouri
Active	Tommy Stanley	M	23	USS Kitty Hawk (via Cushing, Oklahoma)
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)

• Alyson Gilbert, 28, was originally from Crookston, Minnesota and now lives in Jackson, Tennessee.
• Charley Jenkins, 29, was originally from Roosevelt, Utah and now lives in Murray, Utah.
• Gabe Garcia, 28, was originally from Lytle, Texas and now lives in Dickson, Tennessee.
• Laura Fedor, 18, and Sophie Zalokar, 16, are from Willoughby, Ohio.
• Pearl Heart consists of twin sisters Amy and Angela, 20, and their sister Courtney Krechel, 17, who were originally from Florissant, Missouri and now live in Thompson"s Station, Tennessee.
• 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.
• Ashlee Hewitt, 20, was originally from Lancaster, Minnesota and now lives 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 charatible events such as the "Supercell Benefit" for families who lost everything due to tornadoes hitting Tennessee, with proceeds going to the Nashville Red Cross.
• Coffey Anderson, 28, was originally from Bangs, Texas and now lives in Los Angeles, California.
• Justin Gaston, 19, was originally from Pineville, Louisiana and now lives in Los Angeles, California.
• Melissa Lawson, 32, was originally from Arlington, Texas and now lives in Dalworthington Gardens, Texas.
• Shawn Mayer, 21, was originally from May City, Iowa and now lives in Madison, Tennessee.
• Tommy Stanley, 23, was originally from Cushing, Oklahoma but was living on the USS Kitty Hawk.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nashville Star (season 6)". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.