Morning news: new site, Spokane, chart update, and more

Bucky Covington on the Grand Ole Opry stage, March 9th; photo courtesy of the very kind Honeygirl. Thanks again! (You can enjoy more of her great shots here.) 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.

There's a flurry of excitement happening at Bucky's official site--the webmasters have been hard at work this week, preparing for the official full site re-launch today. A first review can be had by visiting Team Covington now; Kathy was able to check it out while the new site went live in the wee hours. (Kathy, you rock!) Here are a few of the features we'll be enjoying:

• An official street team with a points system and prizes (one prize is a phone call from Bucky himself) and an on-site video with Bucky welcoming you to "Bucky Nation"
• An official fan club with different levels (and different gifts on each level), along with a fan club-related meet-and-greet request system
• A music page with streaming samples of the four songs we know and love, a full track list, and songwriter credits
• The tour, bio and store pages (we're expecting some new items in the store fairly soon)
• And finally, a very snazzy new black and white layout with a bit of colorful animation and a cool neo-Western paisley motif. (Hard to describe, but it looks good...)

Enjoy the new site! I'll be signing up for the fan club as soon as possible, and I'll post my experiences right here...

Meanwhile, offline the excitement shifts to Spokane tonight, where Bucky will be doing a "Low Dough Show" sponsored by Cat Country 94 at Trick Shot Dixie (tickets available at Tickets West). What's even more exciting is that you West Coast folks will be enjoying some brand new songs from Bucky's upcoming CD! The very kind Buckyroo posted a fun (and funny) recap of her time at Bucky's recent Columbia, SC appearance; her setlist names "It's Good to be Us" and "Back When We Were Gods" as part of the evening's musical fare. Could these same new-to-us tunes be a part of tonight's show? We'd strongly suggest turning up at Trick Shot Dixie's tonight and listening in...

In chart news, there's a bit of suspense at Mediabase, where Bucky's "A Different World" graces the #31 postion on both the Top 500 and the weighted charts. The song just above his is a mature hit, and several hits above it have also peaked; could there be a little wiggle room in the Top 30 soon? Looks that way--and the best way to get Bucky's single up where it belongs is to keep requesting locally. Countdowns, "top whatever at whatevers", request hours, syndicated weekend shows--wherever you can ask for "A Different World", now's the time. Opportunity is knocking, y'all!

Video countdowns are a fun way to spread the news, too--voting for CMT Pure Country's Pure 12-Pack is over for this week (the current ballot is for next week's show) but the GAC Top Twenty Country Countdown voting is ongoing, so be sure to stop in and cast your vote today! And check CMT's Pick or Flick page later today for a new challenger, then get ready to text in your votes for Bucky. (This is a text-message-only poll, and fees apply--see full rules at the show's page.) Tune in the Top 20 Countdown today and all weekend long to see the results of last week's Pick or Flick.

We'll wrap things up with a reminder to to drop the folks at WKML a line and request Bucky for the WKML "Top 5 at 6"; the show streams at 6 p.m. ET. It's always nice to remember the station that started it all!

(Edited to add a link to a beautiful Opry photo gallery by our good friend BuckyCrazed; thanks so much for sharing these shots! Enjoy the memories.)

More very soon...