You called, Mayer answers -- with Spencer visit

So Shawn Mayer of May City had a pretty good night on "Nashville Star."

I hope people in northwest Iowa give her another good night: The shows producers are flying Shawn back to Spencer for some press opportunities and an autograph session at the Southpark Mall. Turnout can be tough in the middle of the week, but I hope her fans can find a moment to stop by. She's expected at the mall sometime around 3:30 p.m. Then she'll go May City, where a street dance is expected to start at 9 p.m.

It might be one of the last chances to hear her without buying a ticket -- she's building momentum and getting a lot of attention on the show.

First the elimination:

My beverage of choice would have been "Mike's Hard Lemonade" over "Coffey." Contestants wrote the songs they were performing on "original song night" and Ashlee Hewitt sang "Mike's" a playful, catchy number. It was probably my favorite performance of the evening and the best one from Ashlee the entire season. Great lyrics and a lot of fun. I'm really sorry she has to go. This is right up there with the Coffey over Tommy Stanley and Laura & Sophie over Pearl Heart week in the "what? you've got to be kidding me" department.

And speaking of Coffey, He was the first contestant to perform on the night, meaning he wasn't even in the bottom two. He did some country-rap mess called "Southern Man."

Coffey, we had a reading train at Lincoln School and each time the students read a certain number of books, the staff would add another car to the train. It would run up and down the halls. The music department held a contest for the older students to come up with a song for the "Lincoln-nooga Choo-Choo."

I won on what I guess would be called my "original song" night. It went something like:

"The Lincoln-nooga Choo-Choo is building up some speed… The Lincoln-nooga Choo-Choo, all you have to do is read."

Point is: Coffey, I was in fifth grade and my rhymes were already right up there with "Southern Man." Just sayin'. Time to go.

The baffling mojo of Coffey pushed Shawn into the bottom two. I think Shawn really benefitted from being the last performer before the phone lines open. (Ashlee went first in the episode that led to her elimination.) The "American Idol" contestants always thought going first is a bad omen. There might be something to it.

Now back to Shawn:

I can see why the judges are excited. For maybe the first time, Shawn seemed to out-anthem Melissa Lawson to me. I'm not all that fond of anthems myself, but Shawn executed the genre well. She's won over the judges, finally. That's great for her.

Melissa was fine with "Ready to Stand," but I think she's lost a little ground. It's very slight. She's still pretty consistent. A real pro.

Gabe Garcia's "Lost Weekend," was another fun piece of musical escapism. They're on him about his charisma but he remains the most country on a country music show. That has to count for something. I like this shade of country over the shouted out "Independence Day" covers of the world.

Oh and before I forget, the pregnant pause and scary music meter is back up again. Twenty-two seconds passed before Billy Ray Cyrus finished the sentence that revealed the contestant whose "Nashville Star dream is coming to an end." There's suspense and there's silly. A 22-second pause is silly, awkward television.

OK, so next week another contestant will be eliminated. Then the final three are in the mix for one last vote at the end of the show. I've got to think Ashlee's would-be votes won't fall to Coffey. That should get Shawn, Gabe and Melissa into the final vote. Be sure to watch next week because you'll need those numbers right after the show to help Shawn out.