There were no real surprises in the "Nashville Star" finale. Shawn Mayer made a very strong, late push but the consistent, and deserved, praise for Melissa Lawson and Gabe Garcia carried them until the end of the show as the final two.

For whatever it's worth, the "Nashville Star" producers did a great job of making the cast available for interviews throughout the season. Shawn also was very thoughtful and accommodating. She must have been asked about the mentor change a hundred times, but never seemed put off by the questions.

Just to wrap things up, this is the way I would have stacked the contestants:

1. Melissa Lawson - The viewers did a great job choosing the final three.

2. Gabe Garcia - You could easily flip-flop the top two depending on the week.

3. Shawn Mayer - She's in the mix with a lot of good voices. I'm rewarding her for taking more chances.

4. Ashlee Hewitt - Her original song "Mike's Hard Lemonade" is still one of the best moments of the season.

5. Pearl Heart - "Ain't Going Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)" was a great way to leave the show. They found their groove just a little too late.

6. Tommy Stanley - The judges thought he lacked "country" in his vocals. From what I heard, I always thought he passed the litmus test.

7. Alyson Gilbert - The last of the ones I would actually listen to. Her vocals were pretty good. The "psycho eyes" thing was a legitimate issue though.

8. Charley Jenkins - Honestly, I don't even remember him. That means he must not have been too bad.

9. Coffey - He worked really hard, seemed like a nice guy and since he's coming to Spencer on the Nashville Star concert tour, we'll leave it at that.

10. Laura & Sophie - Judge Jeffrey Steele tried some innovative things with the duo, but, boy, did that act unravel. I'm waiting for the reality show spinoff on those two.

11. Third Town - Maybe they needed more time to work things out. There was a weird voice (and haircut) in the trio that was really throwing things off, though.

12. Justin Gaston - The show must have helped his modeling career because it probably didn't do his music ambitions any favors.

"Nashville Star" was a great excuse to fire up the blog. Time for a change of subject though and I have a few ideas. Hope you guys hang in there with me.