Friday news: Power Picks, photos, fairs and festivals, chartgazing and more...

This is definitely one of the most requested photos ever! Bucky Covington smiles for the cameras on the red carpet at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville in May. Visit Music City Update for lots of fantastic Nashville event photos by Aaron Crisler. 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. Photo by Aaron Crisler/ Music City Update .com

Bucky's video for "A Different World" will face a 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 will happen about halfway through the show. At noon, hit the "Vote Now" button, keep that voting window open and get ready to mouse-click away. (Edited with results: Bucky won this matchup against Jennifer Hanson's "Joyride" video with 69% of the vote--but since Jennifer's a co-writer of "A Different World", it's safe to say she had a good day, too. Congratulations, and thanks to all who voted!)

We'll start off with a look at the charts, where "A Different World" is now #11 on the Mediabase weighted listings and #10 on the Top 500. The wrestling match for for that #10 spot on the weighted chart is intense, to say the least, and a closer look at the weighted chart reveals a bullet that's in serious need of juicing-up. Keep requesting "A Different World" at your favorite local and streaming country stations, keep calling and writing those local "Top X at X" and nationally syndicated radio shows, and show Bucky some love at CMT's Top 20 Countdown and GAC's Top Twenty Country Countdown, as well.

And yep, it isn't just an illusion--it really is hard to keep up with everything these days! Requests, polls, Power Picks--supporting Bucky Covington's rise to the top can sometimes seem like a second vocation, with so many items on that "to do list" at this stage in his career. For those of us interested in seeing him on the scene for the those twenty years he's after (and judging by the new traffic to this site, there are a lot of fresh faces in that crowd!) a bit of time-management may be in order. If you only have time to do one thing, make that one thing a radio request. And if you're blessed with the time to do lots to help Bucky on his road to a longtime career, make the first thing you do a radio request.

Online polls are a ton of fun, and naturally, we want Bucky on top of any and all of the polls he's nominated for. (We sure love the sound of "Bucky Covington, About.com's Album of the Year" winner! We want it all, y'all.) Radio airplay, however, still gives Bucky the biggest and best ripple effect going. Sometime today, someone will hear "A Different World" for the first time because one of us requested it. That someone might fall in love with the song, the voice, or both; that someone could stop by his or her local Target or Best Buy on the way home from work and pick up Bucky's CD; that someone could make plans to go see Bucky at their hometown fair or country festival, now that they've heard how terrific he is.

Multiply all those someones by all of us who are calling and emailing stations in big cities and in small towns, and you can see how one little request makes a big difference! Radio is where it all begins for a new artist. When you request, know that you're using your strongest power to help Bucky get those twenty years or more, three minutes at a time.

And after requesting? Vote away! A Power Picks win would be an excellent start to a rockin' weekend, and the AboutCountry Best Album award (voting continues through July 16th) would be a dashing feather in Bucky's cap. Have fun!

If you're looking for some live fun, the Lycoming County Fair in Hughesville, PA is the place to be tonight; Bucky, Rocky, Shaun, Hans and Don are scheduled to hit the grandstand at 8 p.m. Gate admission is $3.00, and a general admission ticket to the show is $10. Tomorrow, Bucky performs at the big WGNA Countryfest at the Altamont Fair in New York, on a bill that includes Jason Michael Carroll, Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, and the ever-photogenic Darryl Worley. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but that lineup calls for a good camera and lots of memory, please. Just sayin'...) You can find more information about Bucky Covington's summer concert schedule at his official site--and his live show is an absolute must-see. Be there!

And to close for now, here are a few "vintage" photo links that we missed in all of this tour's excitement. Bucky's show at the Whiskey Barrel Saloon in Lansing earlier this spring got a lot of coverage by the venue's photographer--check out this large and lovely collection of shots posted at the Whiskey Barrel site. Bucky's performance at the Daytime Stages during CMA Fest was captured beautifully in this Smugmug gallery by professional photographer Richard Beu, who got three great shots at Bucky's LP Field show, too. (Please note that the photographer has requested that no copying or distribution take place without his written consent--feel free to enjoy them at the gallery and to share the link to his pages, but kindly do not post the photos elsewhere. We want to encourage pro photographers to capture Bucky's journey!)

And a repeat link for our very newest readers--be sure to check out Mike Clifton's gorgeous professional gallery of shots from Bucky's recent concert at Wild Bill's in Atlanta. Mr. Clifton's contact info is available at the gallery link, and you can check out more of his beautiful work at Local Sports Online. Huge thanks and applause for all the photographers who've given us such colorful memories of Bucky's performances!

Edited to add a ticket alert from comments: tickets for the Foothills Fall Festival in Maryville, TN go on sale today, and you can snag yours here. Bucky will perform at the Festival on October 13th. (Thanks, Anon.)

More later--enjoy your Friday!