Friday news: Toledo photos, a Safe Haven surprise show, and more...

Old friends Bucky Covington and Aaron Benward of Blue County performed at "An Evening with Danielle Peck and Friends", a recent benefit for Nashville's Safe Haven shelter; visit MusicCity Update.com to see more photos. Bucky's new music video is now available for online viewing at CMT.com and Yahoo Music. You can pre-order Bucky's debut CD at Amazon, Best Buy and Target, hear the full version of his single "A Different World" at CMT, or enjoy samples of four songs from the CD at Bucky's official MySpace. An autographed copy of Bucky Covington can be pre-ordered at his official site or via his official fan club.

(Photo by Aaron Crisler/MusicCityUpdate.com)

The first group of photos from Bucky's in-studio visit to Toledo's WKKO are posted here, and they're great. (I dare you not to smile back at that last shot!)

The interview that was going on when those photos were taken wasn't streamed online--but Becky got a chance to hear Bucky on the air today, and she very kindly shared her recap:

The DJ asked Bucky if he still eats at McDonald's since he made it big--Bucky said "Yep", still tasted the same to him . He also said he was pulling for Gina, because he knew her from last year when she almost made the cut, and she had enough guts to come back.

Of course they asked him about Simon--he said Simon was like the people in the bar at 1:30 a.m. who've had just enough to drink not to hold anything back. Then he noticed that they were using a phone book to prop up a vent, and he asked if they were related to any one in N.C.. (That tickled him, but it took a little time for the DJ to catch on.)

Then he talked about the GAC tour--he said that they were out in the middle of Kansas or Oklahoma in a snow storm and they stopped at a coffee shop. He was standing in front of Steve Azar's bus, and this lady yelled "Hey Bucky, how you doing?" He said "Great!" The guys from Blue County were standing there; they could not believe people knew him and talked like they knew him, even in the middle of nowhere.

DJs played his song again and told him they loved his rendition of "Suspicious Minds." They were charmed by him.

Thanks so much to Becky for the links and recap! There could be more photos coming from the performance at Shawn's--keep that K100 gallery page bookmarked, and check again soon...

In the meantime, here's a recent event that turned out to be almost a GAC Christmas tour mini-reunion of sorts; Bucky was a surprise guest performer at "An Evening with Danielle Peck and Friends" on Monday night. The sold-out show was a fundraiser for Nashville's Safe Haven Family Center; previously-announced performers Blue County, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Julie Roberts, Emily West, and Keith Anderson were joined by Jo Dee Messina, Bucky and Deana Carter. (If you'd like to support Safe Haven, which assists Nashville and middle-Tennessee homeless families in need, here's more info on how you can contribute.) There's also a large photo album from the show--huge thanks to Aaron Crisler of MusicCityUpdate.com for capturing the evening so well.

And in other Nashville flashback news, GAC is re-airing their Sound and Speed coverage on GAC Nights next week--you can revisit both the red carpet (where Bucky appeared with Mark Miller) and the events. Bucky's also said to be appearing on GAC Nights as a guest on April 12th, although he's not yet listed on the episode page--keep an eye out for updates there.


Finally, Bucky's one of the artists doing a winners-only show to celebrate Q104's birthday at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City this evening...but don't forget that open-to-the-public Acoustic Cantina at McCoy's in Westport this afternoon, if you're in the area. Bucky should be onstage at about 2 p.m. Listen to KBEQ for the latest info, and have fun!

And we'll wrap it all up with some voting links: stop over at the CMT Pure Country Pure 12-Pack video countdown and GAC's Top Twenty Country Countdown voting pages and give Bucky a boost, then send an email to country@wkml.com and suggest "A Different World" for WKML's "Top 5 at 6". Be sure to request Bucky at your local country station, too--I just had the thrill of hearing him get some non-countdown airplay on my local station for the first time Thursday morning, and it's a rush, y'all! It's so much fun to hear Bucky on your very own hometown airwaves...

More very soon!