Thursday news: Power Picks, Top Ten again, CMA Fest fun, Music City Update and more...

Bucky Covington shares a laugh with a faraway fan before his April show at the Whiskey Roadhouse in Council Bluffs: click here to enjoy a great Photobucket album full of concert and backstage photos by the very generous Moondancer. (Thanks again, Moon!) Bucky Covington's debut CD is in stores now, and his music video is available for online viewing at CMT.com and Yahoo Music. You can buy Bucky's album at Amazon, Best Buy , iTunes and Target, hear the full version of his single "A Different World" at CMT and GAC, or enjoy samples of songs from the CD at Bucky's official MySpace. An autographed copy of Bucky Covington can be ordered while supplies last at his official site or via his official fan club.

Bucky's video for "A Different World" will face an important head-to-head challenge on CMT's Power Picks, which begins at 12 noon ET; click here to go directly to the Power Picks main page. Bucky's matchup (against the same video he faced earlier this week) will happen during the first half of the show, so at noon, hit the "Vote Now" button, keep that voting window open and get ready to mouse-click away! Results in comments later today...

Today's biggest chart news is happening at Billboard this morning, of course--as we mentioned earlier, Bucky Covington returned to the Top Ten on the Top Country Albums chart this week. That's a great start to an exciting next few days, as CMA Fest gets underway. Bucky takes the stage at his very first Fest twice this week--today during the Complete Country Show from 2 to 4 PM at the Greased Lightning® Daytime Stages at Riverfront Park, and tomorrow with a two-song acoustic set at the Nightly Concert at LP Field. Bucky will be signing autographs at the Borders booth immediately following his performance today, and on Friday afternoon, Festgoers can say hello to him at the CMT booth inside the Convention Center.

And if you'd like to sign an autograph of sorts, here's a fun stop you'll want to make--after Bucky's first Opry appearance in March, many of his fans headed to the Nashville Palace for a get together, and left an impression on the famed destination. If you're in town, you'll find the Palace across the street from the entrance to the Grand Old Opry-- go in the back door, and the Buckaneer Wall is on the right. Add your name to a bit of Nashville real estate! (Thanks, Moon and Happydays.)

Naturally, there's even more fun on the CMA Fest menu--enough to last the whole weekend long. You can check out the whole lineup at the Fest's helpful, official MySpace blog. Our friends at Music City Update will be covering the CMA Fest, too; look for some beautiful photos by Aaron Crisler and company there as the week rolls on. (They've already got two galleries from this week's Reading, Writing & Rhythm and Sparkle and Twang events--go take a look!)

We'll switch to chart-news mode for a moment--Bucky's "A Different World" is holding steady at #14 on the Mediabase weighted chart and #15 on the Top 500 this morning, and it's moved up two notches to #15 on this week's Radio & Records/BDS ranking. Request "A Different World" at your favorite local and streaming country stations and feel free to give Bucky and his video for the song some love at the GAC Top Twenty ballot today, too. CMT's Pure 12-Pack voting is done for the week, but a new round begins tomorrow. (Can he hang on to that nice #1 spot? Tomorrow will tell...)

Finally, be sure to check out Team Covington today--Kathy's morning update includes a link to Sunny's beautiful concert photos from Bucky's show in San Jose last week. Thanks to Kathy and Sunny--enjoy!

More soon...