2007: Chasing the dream, living the reality

Bucky Covington in an early promo photo, February 2006.

Oh, sure--technically, this is the first day of 2007, but for all intents and purposes, our New Year as Bucky's fans began on Christmas Day, and then again this past Saturday night. Sirius Satellite Radio's New Country gave Bucky's debut single, "Different World" its first-ever nationwide audience, and by the time the last notes of that pedal steel guitar left our speakers, we knew a brand new--and very exciting--adventure was already in progress.

It's interesting to think that only a year or so ago, most of us got our first glimpse of Bucky as an American Idol contestant; before that, according to his official bio, he pictured himself "on stage with a pair of sunglasses on, playing guitar and singing, and thinking, that would be cool." He taught himself how to play, and eventually that picture became reality on stages in his Carolina home base.

Bucky's next dream was a quite a bit larger. "My Dad's always taught me, 'Before you do or say anything, think about it first'", Bucky told American Idol Magazine. "If you want to try something, sit back, shut your eyes, then if you can picture yourself doing it, you can do it. But you've gotta see yourself doing it. Picturing myself on American Idol was tough. To picture myself on that big stage, with over 30 million people watching me at home."

Tough, perhaps, but clearly not impossible to imagine. That picture became reality, too.

Bucky on stage with the Idol summer tour, August 2006; photo by Heather Loves AI.

He was pretty much a mysterious figure through most of the early Idol shows, I'm told, with a lot less "backstory" presented for him than for than some of the others. (Here's Bucky's first real mention on MJ's Big Blog, in January, 2006; MJ's excellent sleuthing, rather than any background from Idol, provided the info in her post.) He hung in there, though--chasing his dream through the Hollywood rounds and into the semi-finals, working hard and honing his talents, and gathering much affection and support along the way, online and off.

By the end of his very enjoyable time on the show, Bucky had attracted a loyal core of listeners eager to hear what the real Bucky Covington--the guy beyond the Idol image--had to offer musically. And equally as important, he attracted an experienced and simpatico producer/mentor in Mark Miller--who, with Sawyer Brown, has already taken the road from TV discovery to musical longevity that Bucky's now embarking upon.


Bucky on stage during his last concert performance of 2006, in Weldon NC with the GAC Christmas tour in late December; photo by the very kind Blu.

What's in the picture for 2007? At this point, it might be fun to take a slight detour and look back at a few on-topic dreams of yours and mine. Back in March, I heard Bucky sing for the first time and knew right away that no matter what happened on that silly talent show, he'd become a favorite on my CD shelf. I could picture myself on a summer roadtrip with that wonderfully raw, rockin' voice blasting out of the speakers; I could see myself with a bunch of my friends having an awesome time at a live Bucky Covington show. It's a very safe bet that there were similar visions and pictures in your head, too. With all of us--and Bucky--chasing that same dream from so many different directions, the chances of it getting away are pretty slim, indeed!

So as the new year dawns, we've got the fun of a new Bucky Covington single and album (and with any luck, a great summer tour) to anticipate, and the continued joy of supporting a talented singer as he makes his way to the next goal, and the next. And if there's a dream of your own that you're diligently chasing in 2007, if there's a picture in your mind you'd like to make a reality, Bucky's bio has a few words of wisdom for you, too: "If you want to do it, then get out there and do it."

(Who knows...this time next year, one of your fans might be blogging about you.)

News post next--come on back!