What a difference a week makes on NBC's Nashville Star! At least this week, I knew what I was getting myself into.

While voters did the right thing in bringing Third Town's torture of tuneage to an end, they also surprised by allowing Arlington, Texas, resident Melissa Lawson fall into the Bottom 2. Lawson impressed last week by belting out Bonnie Raitt's "Somethin' To Talk About" and tried to one-up it by doing Aretha Franklin's "You Make Me Feel (Natural Woman)".

By no means was Lawson anything better than one might see at Stumpy's on a Friday night, although I don't mean to bag on them. I played Stumpy's a few times back in the day and had a blast. But the Grand Ol' Opry or an arena it's not.

The problem, to me, for now is that a vehicle designed to find the next country music star is not focused enough on country music. Alyson Gilbert sings "Every Breath You Take," the 1983 smash from The Police. Coffey does his best to butcher John Mayer's "Waiting For The World To Change," and Justin Gaston beat us all into submission with "Hey There Delilah" from the Plain White T's

Not country. Not country. Not country.

At least Gabe Garcia picked a pop song that translated well into country music. The Lytle, Texas, native sang "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by CCR. He got good marks for his vocal ability although I don't think his charisma is serving him well. And, he looks a bit like K.D. Lang.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The award for most improved goes to Minnesota's Ashlee Hewitt who did a respectable job of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Now, the big development of the week was that it was announced that each judge would work with a set of contestants, a mentorship a la The X Factor.

Jeffrey Steele works with the groups. John Rich gets the girls, and Jewel takes on the guys.

Rich told Hewitt that she needed to focus on finding songs that fit her range, and I can reinforce how true that is. I'd love to pick songs that I play based on how much I love them, but the truth is that I pick songs I can sing. That are in my range. That's the primary criterion.

But Ashlee has the look, the sincerity, the ability to play an instrument. The only thing missing is the writing, or so we think. Who knows.

One embarrassing, make-me-cringe moment was when Jewel told Ashlee, musician to musician, how good it was that she was doing bar chords instead of using the capo. Yes. But that's like heaping praise on an aspiring mathematician because he can divide.

Vocally, Laura and Sophie were again pretty good this week. However, Jewel criticized the duo for doing a Judds song ("Rockin' With The Rhythm Of The Rain") with which they were already familiar. It was very much a county fair, rodeo performance. No star quality whatsoever.

Shawn Mayer did her best with George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," but it was still terrible. Vocally, it was whack.

In terms of performance, Gaston should be the most concerned. His vocal performance was so weak that Rich said it was a mistake for him to be in the Top 12. However, his model looks could keep him around awhile. That's the cynic in me, yes, but I also understand the value of looks on a show dependent upon the masses.

On the other hand, if Lawson can't pull down more votes than what she apparently did with the primo spot -- the last song -- they she must not be connecting with the public. That spells doom for her long-term for sure and short-term probably.

One of these two is gone -- and if I have to call a winner for the night, it would be Hewitt. After two weeks, she's the only singer who comes near looking and sounding like she could have a career in this business.

Now, she's not great. Don't get me wrong. This show is still a massive turd, but she made pretty big progress from Week 1 to 2, and from the bottom of my cold but honest heart, I could see this girl with a career in country. Someday.