We had moms, dads, fellow servicemen and even a golden retriever as "Nashville Star" held its family night Monday night.

Each performer also was called on to do two songs, but, really, they each did about a song-and-a-half. Their second selection was much shorter.

Remember, if you missed an episode, CMT airs replays at 7 p.m. Friday nights and sometimes over the weekend -- of course if you missed the original airing that means you couldn't vote for our local favorite Shawn Mayer of May City (just north of Hartley). We're tracking her journey through the competition and blogs of previous episodes are available here at my spencerdailyreporter.com blog spot.

I'll go over the most recent episode now, so if you want to be surprised this is a good time to stop reading.

First the elimination:

I haven't figured out the voting patterns quite yet. Tommy Stanley was entertaining with "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" two weeks ago but found himself squarely in the bottom two last week. Also last week he did a pretty awful rendition of "Maniac," the "Flashdance" song, so I thought the performance doomed him Monday… wrong! He wasn't even in the bottom two.

Alyson Gilbert, the red-head with the habit of looking a little pageantry and bug-eyed on stage was sent home with her family. I think she'll please record producers in the studio. She certainly has the voice. She just didn't have the consistency in live performances, both vocally and with her stage presence.

She didn't deserve to go (I'm looking at you, Coffey) but it was a horrible robbery, either. The judges were very constructive and gracious with her send-off. She was joined in the bottom by Laura & Sophie, which came as a surprise to me… at the time… More on that later.

Now back to Shawn:

This week's theme seemed to be "Shawn gets girly," when clips reminded viewers that she's the fire-fightin', motorcycle ridin' gal from oh so rural O'Brien County.

First, Shawn told her mentor John Rich she was trying to decide between "Breathe" by Faith Hill and "Imagine" by John Lennon for her main song. Shawn's sister talked her into "Breathe" and I think it was the right choice.

She shouldn't play it safe, but the Faith Hill song is still pretty recognizable and ambitious. It was a good way to walk on the high wire, but still keep the net underneath. If she would have crashed with "Imagine" it might have been a fatal fall.

The song choice also gave producers a chance to play the "tom boy gets in touch with her feminine side" angle.

"Now is time for me to show America that I'm a girl," Shawn said. "I like flowers. I like chocolate." Then came clips of her picking out a dress and getting a pedicure.

Shawn turned in a solid version of the song, which showcased her softer tones along with the big voice responsible for getting her on the show. Jewel told her she liked that Shawn was "wanting to be prettier" but wanted her to get back to some of the "raw emotionality" of her previous performances. The next judge, Jeffrey Steele, mildly disagreed with Jewel, saying he liked when Shawn's voice got smaller and less ambitious.

Rich asked Shawn if she felt like she was getting better, and it almost sounded like he was implying that she wasn't. She told him she had been working her backside off and he said "we'll find out."

He then quickly added "I was impressed with that. I think that was some of the best signing you've done so far."

As her mentor, Rich has always been the most wordy of the judges in reviewing Shawn's performance. He went on to say she was up against some pretty tough competition and told her she can "fall apart" at times when she performs.

Shawn sang "Forever and Ever, Amen," the Randy Travis standard, for her second song. I think she is more authentically country than about two-thirds of the competitors (sorry, I don't mean to stare, Coffey), but she went too far in the secondary performance. It had a very unnatural sounding bleat-twang to it. I understand what she was looking for, but it was a little over the top.

Rich was the only judge to comment on her second song and said Shawn proved his point about falling apart at times.

"It's the most aggravating thing in the world to see you nail one song and not nail the other one back-to-back like that," he said. "Did you know that if you win this show you're going to be on the Olympics? Did you know that -- in front of the world. Did you know that if you win this show you've got to go across the United States and knock them out every singe time you get on the mic?"

He doesn't think she's competitive enough to take the competition.

Who I liked:

Gabe Garcia ("Wanted Dead or Alive" and "The Fireman") and Melissa Lawson ("This One's for the Girls" and "Landslide") were both pretty solid. Lawson was a little shouty in parts of This One's for the Girls. If votes are based solely on singing, these two will be around at the very end. Rich declared Lawson "the undisputed winner of the show," but, considering she's been in the bottom two, it's not quite that kind of a lock. Garcia is very consistent and good.

Pearl Heart, the trio, did a nice version of "I'll Still Be Loving You" for their main song. They sounded a lot better than a week ago.

Tommy Stanley did well with "God Bless a Broken Road" and "Tiny Dancer." Naturally, since I liked him this week, he's in big trouble Monday.

Who I didn't like:

Laura & Sophie tricked me with PYT a week ago. They took on the Katrina and the Waves 80s hit "Walking on Sunshine." If the makers of Prozac want to do one of those pharmaceutical commercials, they now have their soundtrack. "Because of You" was their follow-up. It was also jammed with plastic harmonies. They sound better separate than they do together.

Coffey just isn't a very strong singer. John Rich told him he was confused and should be on "American Idol" because of the lack of country in his performance. True, but even Paula Abdul would have to be pretty medicated up to give him a ticket to Hollywood. You can tell he's a great dad though. Hopefully voters schedule a reunion for him Monday night.

I'll go out on a limb and hope the calls reflect what I think I heard Monday night. These two acts should be going home in the double-elimination after the weekend.

I'm still a little bored with Ashley Hewitt and the constructively-tough judges have given her a pass so far this season.

So is our Iowan safe?

"Forever and Ever, Amen" was a rough patch for Shawn and she didn't catch any breaks in the way the producers stacked the show. She had to follow Lawson, the only other competitor who can match her big voice. Then came the guest performance of "Home" by established country act Blake Shelton, who is not a contestant. Then came Gabe Garcia. That makes it tough for Shawn's well-executed "Breathe" to stand out.

Shawn hasn't been in the bottom two so far this season and she can't afford to be, with two eliminations planned. I think maybe, just maybe, she squeaks through.