It was similar to American Idol, in that performers had to sing to impress both celebrity judges and the public via call-in and/or internet votes.

This restriction was relaxed for Season 6, allowing for the finalists to choose from many genres of music, but the songs were arranged to maintain a country sound.

The show is credited with jump-starting the careers of singers Buddy Jewell, Miranda Lambert, Chris Young, and Kacey Musgraves among others.

[3][4] In a format nearly identical to the final round of American Idol, finalists performed one song per week individually and face criticism and/or praise from a panel of three judges.

Unlike Idol, however, Nashville Star's judges did not participate in the preliminary auditions (leaving that task to the show's producers), but they did act as mentors to the finalists (beginning with the 2008 season).

Whereas American Idol generally elevated people off the street to stardom, Nashville Star finalists were usually already somehow involved in the country music industry, but may not have attained a record deal on a major label.

In 2007, five days after Jewel's debut as the new host of Nashville Star, she appeared as a guest judge on the season premiere of American Idol.

In addition, most episodes included an established country music act making a guest appearance to perform a song.

[5] Fifth-season judge Blake Shelton told the New York Times, "I think it's disastrous that there hasn't been a winner to go on to be a consistent star in Nashville.

The process was again altered in 2006, allowing judges to remove one finalist (two in 2007, back to one in 2008) on the premiere episode only before fans get the chance to vote.

Tyler claims that video clips of a confrontation between her and eventual winner Erika Jo concerning the difference in their ages were doctored and taken out of context as they were presented on the show.

However, host Jewel teased an elimination several times from the beginning of the episode, only to reveal at the very end that the previous week's show experienced "technical difficulties" and the voting results were discarded.

As stated below and on this page, the winner of season 6 was supposed to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, which was also shown on NBC in the U.S.

As a result of the move, O'Dell chose to leave the show due to her hosting commitments at Access Hollywood, which is taped in Los Angeles.

The show has seen a revolving door of judges as well, with recording industry executive Anastasia Brown serving the longest (a three-season stint from 2005–2007).

Judges were country music historian Robert K. Oermann, record label executive Tracy Gershon, and singer/songwriter Charlie Robison.

Record label executive Tracy Gershon returned as a judge, joined by radio personality Billy Greenwood and country artists The Warren Brothers.

Sixth-place finisher Brent Keith was a top 36 semi-finalist on the eighth season of American Idol, but was not voted through to the finals.

Her victory was watched by the show's largest-ever USA Network audience, when over three million people tuned in to see the finale on April 26.

The video for the first single, "I Break Things", initially received heavy rotation on CMT and GAC, but the song was largely ignored by country radio and only reached No.

Nashville Star began its fourth season on March 14, 2006, with a slightly altered set, two new hosts in Wynonna & Cowboy Troy, and only two regular judges.

Young charted in the Top 40 for the first time in 2008 with "Voices", and reached number one in 2009 with "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" and "The Man I Want to Be".

The 2007 winner of Nashville Star was 29-year-old Angela Hacker from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, who finished just ahead of her younger brother, Zac.

She would later participate in another CBS reality series The Amazing Race 25, with her fellow Survivor contestant and fiancé Keith Tollefson; they finished in 8th place.

Kacey Musgraves, who finished in seventh place, signed with Mercury Records in 2012 and released her debut single, "Merry Go 'Round", which was a top 20 country hit.

[19] For the first time, the judges also acted as mentors to the finalists, and Rich produced songs later included in the EP, United We Stand.

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

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".

Third-placer Shawn Mayer is currently releasing songs digitally, and fifth-placer Ashlee Hewitt is currently songwriting and working with close friend and fellow country singer Katie Armiger.

With the release of "Teddy Gentry's Best New Nashville"[22] 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.