Nashville Star 2 Preview: What a Difference a Year Makes!

Nashville Star 1 premiered last year with little fanfare to low ratings and minimal excitement. What a difference a year makes! After Buddy Jewell’s extraordinary victory and post-show success, the premiere of Nashville Star 2has become an eagerly anticipated event for country music fans as well as TV talent show aficionados. The wait is over. Nashville Star 2 hits the airways this Saturday, March 6th at 10PM on the USA network, and the producers are promising that this season will be even better than the first.

Contestants auditioned in 25 cities, and 100 winners advanced to regional competitions in Nashville, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. From there, 20 people were selected as semi-finalists. Rather than spend a lot of time on the audition process, the first show will get right to the meat of the competition with all 20 semi-finalists performing. From that group, the judges will select 10 of the finalists. Viewers will be able to vote for the 11th, with that person being announced on March 13.

Figuring that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the format for this year’s edition will remain the same. The show will be broadcast live each week from the BellSouth Acuff Theater and will feature a live band to accompany the performances. Nancy O’Dell returns as host. Tracy Gershon, Senior Director of A&R and Artist Development at Sony Music Nashville is the only judge to return from last year. New judges include Billy Greenwood, a DJ on Nashville’s WSIX radio, and five-time CMA nominees The Warren Brothers (Brad and Brett).

Each week there will be a guest singer (Willie Nelson for one!) and the contestants will face a challenge such as appearing on a radio talk show or singing the National Anthem at a sporting event. And, they will all live together, a camera following their every move!

Buddy will be on hand for the season premiere and will be presented a gold record for his debut album Buddy Jewell. What better way to inspire the new crop of hopefuls! But the competition is stiff this year and most likely there will not be another runaway favorite. Ranging in age from 18 to 39, the group runs the gamut of experience, and they all write their own material and play instruments.

There are supposed to be 20 contestants on the show Saturday, however, two have withdrawn. Here’s a brief rundown of remaining 18 semi-finalists in alphabetical order:

Anessa Andrews: Anessa made it to the top 25 last year but didn’t make the cut. She currently lives in Tennessee but is originally from Oklahoma. Anessa is a medical transcriptionist by day but has been performing since she was nine when she started singing at her church. In December 2000, she earned a spot in the Oklahoma Opry where she performed until moving to Nashville in the spring of 2003.

Eddie Barber: Eddie is a real country boy who works in a sawmill and helps his family out on their farm. He loves to sing, though and, last summer, moved to Nashville where he began performing in local clubs. Eddie won the Nashville StarRegional Final Contest in Lexington KY on January 17th to move on to the finals.

George Canyon: If you have always assumed that country singers can only come from the South, think again. Not only is George Canyon not from Dixie, he isn’t even an American! This country singer is from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, where he is co-owner of Riverfront Studios in New Glasgow.

George is also no amateur, having released a self-titled debut album from which three singles all charted on the Canadian CMT charts. He is currently working on his second album and has performed in such notable spots as the Grand Old Opry. Look out for George!

Brad Cotter: Brad is another Nashville transplant but grew up in Opelika, Alabama. Like Buddy Jewell, he has been making a living doing demos and writing songs. He also started young, singing gospel in church and ultimately recorded five gospel albums.

After achieving unprecedented success as a child (he was named “top child gospel soloist in America” before he was in his teens), Brad joined the band Silverado which, while never securing a record deal, achieved some success, opening for such well-known acts as Dr. Hook and the Byrds.

After only a year, Brad left Silverado and moved to Nashville where he signed a development contract with RCA. But the deal didn’t come to fruition and, after writing six songs for the project, Brad started doing demos for other songwriters while continuing to write his own music.

We all know what happened for Buddy after 10 years doing demos. Will history repeat itself?

Gregory Delang: The first hint that Greg is different is her name. Yes, I said her. This girl named Greg grew up in West Texas and began performing on her parents’ railroad at eight. She moved to Nashville in 1995 where she has been writing songs and working on her first album.

Heather Green: Not only is Heather a singer, she is also a model and actress. She has appeared in music videos and will be appearing in the movie Stroke of Genius, scheduled for release on April 30, as a fan of golfer Bobby Jones.

Austin Hanks: Austin, who was born in Palmerdale, Alabama, is living in L.A. where he works as a musician. He formed his first band in the fifth grade and continued playing through high school, winning a number of talent shows. In college, Austin formed the band Slick Lilly and developed a strong following in local clubs. Slick Lilly began doing concerts, opening for the likes of The Black Crows, The Georgia Satellites, Widespread Panic, Jesus Jones, and Peter Frampton.

The group signed a record deal and had moderate success, releasing a rock single, “Dirty Water,” which got quite a bit of airplay. They continued to tour and landed the opening slot for the Ted Nugent/Bad Company tour. But Hanks yearned to get back to his country roots and, just when Slick Lilly was starting to peak, he disbanded the group.

He moved to Nashville where he formed a country rock band and continued to write music. His song “Candy in the Sun” was featured in Drew Barrymore’s movie Never Been Kissed. In 1997 he moved to L.A. where he hooked up with fellow southern transplants and started “spreading the word” about country music.