Nashville Star
Season Winner Second Third Fourth
1 ( 2003 ) Buddy Jewell John Arthur Martinez Miranda Lambert Brandi Gibson
2 ( 2004 ) Brad Cotter George Canyon Matt Lindahl Lance Miller
3 ( 2005 ) Erika Jo Jason Meadows Jody Evans Jayron Weaver
4 ( 2006 ) Chris Young Casey Rivers Nicole Jamrose Matt Mason
5 ( 2007 ) Angela Hacker Zac Hacker David St. Romain Joshua Stevens
6 ( 2008 ) Melissa Lawson Gabe Garcia Shawn Mayer Coffey Anderson
Winners
Nashville Star is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television at the time. In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT in the United States reaired each episode in season 6. 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. Unlike American Idol, however, the performers were limited to country music. 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. A Nashville Star-themed gifts and souvenirs shop featuring local items and city souvenirs opened in July 2008 at Nashville International Airport, one month before the show's final episode, and remains open.