5/24 Results and Finale: "Takin' Care of Business"

Congratulations to 2006's American Idol, Taylor Hicks!

Oh. Oh, my goodness.

There's so much to say about how terrific Bucky Covington was last night, but I'll let the media and the fans weigh in before I get started:

MSNBC (surprise!): "It was easy to see how the rest of the 12 finalists could find a niche on the airwaves: Pickler and Bucky Covington on country stations..."

Mercury News (in a "what we didn't see coming" roundup): "Bucky Covington sounding really good ..."

News & Observer: "Rockingham's Bucky Covington put in the most convincing performance of the six male finalists who reunited for a medley of "Takin' Care of Business," "Tobacco Road" and "Don't Stop..."

Arizona Republic: " Bucky Covington's rendition of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head was sweet. He sang it soft and tender..."

As for the fans? Much of this sort of sentiment on the boards , even from some formerly very tough customers. We won't even go into how many Google searches for "Bucky Covington Fan Club" and "Bucky Covington concert tickets" led many brand new Bucky fans to this blog yesterday. (If you're just now finding about about Bucky, be sure to check out Bucky Covington Online, the official site sponsored by his family--and welcome!)

And if you've been hanging around here for a while...well, you know exactly what I'm going to say, don't you?

I think Bucky became his kind of star last night.

It was Taylor and Katharine's night, of course, and understandably so. Both of them are on their way to stellar careers, without a doubt--they shone magnificently. Bucky, I think, snuck up on quite a few viewers last night the way he snuck up on me all those months ago--a beautifully confident, eager-to-please stage presence, a radiant smile, and most importantly, one heck of an amazingly pure and lovely Southern rock and roll voice.

Bucky's kind of star is the one you follow before you even realize how big a fan you've become; the kind you take your friends to see over and over again, until the years have gone by and it's practically a tradition to catch him when he's in town; the kind who, sooner or later, makes you stop and think of how much fun--just sheer fun--it is to root for someone so real, and so very much worth it. And in the last 24 hours, a lot of new people just discovered what we've known all along.

You know what? I think we won last night.

Again, congratulations to Taylor, Katharine, Bucky and everyone involved with last night's memorable show. Y'all rocked!

Photos, links and more finale--and tour--related goodies coming up later today. See you then!