This season "Nashville Star" heads to Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Kansas City, Tallahassee, Denver, New Orleans, Portland and aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima for a special military casting call, when the search for the next country star moves to NBC with new host BILLY RAY CYRUS.

"I don't know if you're familiar with a song I wrote called 'Some Gave All,' but 'Some Gave All' is a very decorated song throughout the military," Billy Ray says. "And when we stood on that battleship and sang 'Some Gave All' [with] all those families, and kids, and moms, and dads, they all sung along. Again, this has already been a great highlight of my career and we're just now getting started. So I'm very excited and very thankful to NBC for allowing me to come onboard."

This season, the talent competition will feature high-profile country artists as judges, including singer-songwriter and acclaimed producer JOHN RICH of BIG & RICH, multi-platinum singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy nominee JEWEL, along with 2006 BMI Songwriter of the Year JEFFREY STEELE. More than 45,000 hopefuls auditioned in hopes of making their dreams come true.

"Nashville Star" premieres on Monday, June 9 at 9 p.m. on NBC.