Winding down and movin' up...

Bucky Covington takes time out to sign an autograph for a very kind fan in Eldon, Iowa on Saturday; click here to enjoy more great shots courtesy of Janie. (Thanks, Janie!) 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, WalMart Music 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.

The weekend is winding down, but Bucky Covington's "A Different World" continues movin' on up--it's now #12 on the Mediabase weighted chart and #14 on the Top 500. Could this coming week bring that Top Ten celebration we're all dreaming of? As Kathy mentioned in her excellent post at Team Covington today, there are some heavy hitters hovering in that same chart vicinity this week--but the Top Ten dream is still exceedingly likely to become a reality very soon. Goodness knows we've been chasing it with a passion--requesting Bucky on the radio, voting for the video at CMT's Top 20 Countdown and GAC's Top Twenty Country Countdown, and sending a lot of love in Bucky, Rocky, Don, Hans and Shaun's direction out on the road. Two notches, y'all! This is doable...

Speaking of the road, Bucky's busy weekend on tour was a rip-roaring success, judging by the memories of the happy fans who were there to enjoy it. Happydays was in the house for the Wild Bill's show in Atlanta, and she shares her beautiful photos in her Photobucket gallery; Buckyflowers enjoyed that same concert, and her gallery of great shots from the night is posted at the Fox boards; and Janie had a fantastic time at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon, Iowa, where Bucky appeared with Sawyer Brown--her images are here, and they're lovely. Huge thanks for sharing the fun--we all wish we could have been there with you!

And there's more fun at CMT.com, where Bucky's part of the front page. Click here to enjoy him in a new online CMT Insider News feature on Loaded, in which he and Kellie Pickler share some funny inside perspective on CMA Fest. (Also at CMT, we seem to have gone from little advance warning on Power Picks matchups to quite a bit of a heads-up--word has it that Bucky's video will face a challenge on Wednesday, 6/20. We'll post a reminder on the show date, but forewarned is forearmed...)

This morning, Bucky was also a part of the Boston Globe's rather skeptical look at this summer's very first Idol Camp, the American Idol-sponsored singing camp for kids:

Bucky Covington, who painted cars in his family’s auto-body shop before being voted off the show in eighth place last year, is also making an appearance at Idol Camp – though he doesn’t know when or what he’ll be doing there. (Passing along advice that was passed along to him on the show, he guesses. "I’m not much of a teacher," he says, laughing.) Chatting by phone while he signs autographs in Roanoke, Virginia, before opening for Kenny Rogers (Kenny Rogers!), Covington is the embodiment of the AI fantasy: His debut album recently opened at No. 1 in the Nielsen Soundscan’s Country Top 75 chart.

Still, the 29-year-old is astounded by the desire for fame that kids have these days. "When I was 12 to 15 years old, the only thing I had my mind set on was driving a car. That is it," he says in a thick Southern accent. "I think it’s definitely different now. When I was in high school, I didn’t have a care in the world. If somebody came up and said, 'Hey, where do you see yourself in 10 years?' Ten years! I got this weekend planned out, tops. That’s all I care about."

These days, Bucky's schedule is much more planned out (to say the least!), but he'll have a few days off before the tour bus officially starts rolling again. Fans in the Oshkosh area can look forward to enjoying Bucky with Sawyer Brown at the Country USA Music Festival on Thursday, June 21st; click here to see the full festival lineup. (Bucky's jam-packed summer schedule is available at his official tour page--hope you'll get to enjoy him live in concert soon.)

Finally, big, big megathanks to all my fellow fans who wrote to share links, news and fun while I was out of town. I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again...Bucky Covington has definitely attracted some of the sweetest supporters on earth.

More soon!