Peaceful, easy feelin'

Bucky Covington performing at the Wildhorse Saloon during the "Live from CRS-38" showcase on 3/1; photo by the very kind Happydays. Thanks again, Happy! (Enjoy more of her great photos from that evening 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.

It's calm and peaceful at the moment, but later today, we'll be--you guessed it--back in voting mode at CMT's Power Picks, where Bucky's "A Different World" video will face off against none other than Toby Keith! Tune in at 3 p.m. Eastern and get ready to click away. (We'll post another reminder closer to showtime.)

We're looking for some good after CRS photos and stories...but so far, aside from Bucky's fun tales in his diary at USA Today on Monday morning, what happens in Nashville apparently stays in Nashville! There's hope, though--About.com's country music section is promising a photo-illustrated look back at the showcases and many audio interviews with the artists who were there. (A few of those interviews have already been posted, including one with Bucky's Lyric Street labelmate Trent Tomlinson.)

There's also a quick but flattering mention of Bucky at CRS in a new column by entertainment reporter Jimmy Carter. The piece ran in yesterday's "Rumbles from the Row" at the industry site AllAccess.com, and a kind poster at CarrieFans.com shared an excerpt. Mr. Carter wrote about what he feels is the negative impact of non-country elements on the current country scene, then added:

Kellie Pickler and Bucky Covington are very nice folks, and the input of the "Idol" show is not to be compared to the above! Carrie has been a great "model" country star. These three could teach many of the other more standoff "stars" a few lessons in playing well with others.

Chances are excellent that other reporters who hit CRS 38 will share their thoughts in the coming weeks--we'll keep an eye out for more.

We'll close this pre-Opry post with the usual friendly reminders: stop in and give Bucky a vote at GAC's Top 20 Country Countdown and CMT's Pure Country 12-Pack , keep requesting "A Different World" at your local country station, and please send a quick WKML "Top 5 at 6" request for Bucky's single to country@wkml.com while you're working on those last minute travel plans...

See you later today!