(NBC photo by John Russell) Shawn Mayer of May City thanks supporters in the audience and stands next to host Billy Ray Cyrus in the July 28 episode of "Nashville Star." The 21-year-old Mayer was one of three performers to make it to the season finale Monday night.

Melissa Lawson, a big-voiced, 31-year-old mother of five boys from Arlington, Texas, was named the season six winner of "Nashville Star," an NBC country music competition series.

The hour-long season finale included Shawn Mayer, a 21-year-old from May City in rural Osceola County, Iowa, and Gabe Garcia, a show-described 28-year-old Tex-Mex cowboy from Lytle, Texas.

Mayer reached the final three on the show from a field of 45,000 performers who auditioned in 11 cities and aboard the U.S.S Iwo Jima. Twelve of the acts reached the nationally-televised elimination rounds.

The contestants performed in front of Grammy nominee John Rich of Big & Rich, platinum-selling artist Jewel and award-winning songwriter Jeffrey Steele.

Judges reduced the field from 12 to 11 at the end of the June 9 season premiere. Then, each Monday night, contestants were assigned toll-free phone numbers and were spared if enough fans called to keep them out of the bottom position. Viewers also could protect their favorites with votes at the "Nashville Star" Web site or through cell-phone texting.

Moments after the win, Lawson performed her debut single "What if it All Goes Right," which was be released to country radio Tuesday morning. As the winner, Lawson secured a record contract with Warner Bros. Records. The winner's debut album will be produced by Rich.

In a conference call Friday, Rich said he was confident country music fans would send him a talented musician to work with.

"The country audience wants to hear what they want to hear," he told reporters. "They're not going to vote somebody in there because they dislike what the judges are saying and they're going to prove a point - not at the end of the day. Some people might have taken that angle but look who we have in the final three: Melissa Lawson, Gabe Garcia, Shawn Mayer - all three people that could get record deals anyway. You know, there's no fluff in the final three. These are all real deal artists. So I never worried about it because I know our audience and I know that they would never do that."

Lawson also will give a live performance from the Olympics in Beijing on August 12.

Mayer received the lowest number of votes from almost 5 million cast, according to the show. She was eliminated about 20 minutes into the telecast, leaving Garcia and Lawson for the title.

The Iowan paired tenacity and risk-taking with a strong voice to carry her to the final episode. Rich didn't initially see her as a contender for the season finale and she received largely mixed reviews during the first four episodes of the series.

The July 7 episode was crucial for Mayer in two ways: It was the only episode which eliminated two contestants. The cuts did not include Mayer and it placed her in the top half of competitors.

Mayer also caught the attention of viewers when it was revealed she "fired" Rich in the days leading up to the episode. Rich was serving as a mentor for all of the female solo artists at the time.

"I think my style of critiquing her and trying to mentor her just did not mesh with her personality at all," Rich said in the conference call before results were announced. "When I'm not being critical of her or trying to mentor -- on more of a friendly basis -- when that part of the show is over and let's say we're at a rehearsal or just, you know, everybody sitting around eating and we're having a conversation, I get along with her great."

Steele, Mayer's mentor through much of the month of July, credited her for the progress she made in the final few installments of the season.

"If you had asked me at the beginning of the show if I thought you were going to be standing here tonight, I would have said no," he told her. "I was probably in agreement with pretty-much everything John had been saying. I was saying the same things, too, and to see your professionalism and how you've come around these past few weeks - and taken the advice you needed and stepped up to the plate - can't be more proud."

Mayer continued to smile and didn't appear to be upset when host Billy Ray Cyrus announced her elimination.

"I would have done nothing differently - absolutely nothing," she said. "I'm so happy to be here and you know what? Miranda Lambert got third place so maybe that's a sign."

Former "Nashville Star" contestant Lambert's platinum-selling 2005 album "KEROSENE" debuted at No. 1 on the country charts and went on to earn Lambert nominations for the CMA's Horizon Award and the ACM's Top New Female Vocalist Award.

Rich said he encouraged the other two performers in Monday night's season finale to have an exit strategy. "You need to have something lined up," he said as he recalled a conversation he had with the finalists for reporters.

"You need to be showcasing in Nashville within 20 days of the show being over because people in Nashville are interested in you guys," he said. "I'm telling you right now… you have fans. You have people that are voting for you by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. And they had not even thought of that. I said yeah, don't let the heat of what you've got going on here -- don't let that escape you. Take advantage of it. And I believe any one of these three finalists -- whether they win the show or not -- could have a record deal before the end of 2008 if they play their cards right."

Mayer could be bringing her rivals back to Spencer. NBC scrolled Nashville Star Concert Tour dates at the bottom of the screen during the telecast. The list of stops included a Nov. 22 concert date in Spencer.