Friday news: rainy days and hot announcements...

Bucky Covington shares a smile with a fan at his Lycoming County Fair show earlier this summer; photo courtesy of the_mumbler, who shares more beautiful shots from the concert here. (Thanks again!) 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.

If you're curious about last night's wild times in Ohio, head to the Chillicothe Gazette site, where Bucky Covington's unexpectedly eventful concert at the Ross County Fair gets a photo-illustrated rainy retrospective:

Relentless rains didn't dampen Bucky Covington's sprits as he he sat in his tour bus surrounded on all sides by a mud puddle.

"This is where it gets fun," Covington said.

Covington was in town to perform at the Ross County Fairgrounds when a surprise storm buried the track in mud and sent fans rushing into the grandstand. Mud tracks stretched across the floor of his bus as he motioned me in with an easygoing smile for an interview.

"Don't worry about the mud...it's already messy, come on in out of the rain," he said. "All the people stayed and that's great. We're going to go out there and have fun."

And from the looks of this classic concert photo, they went out there and had a lot of fun, indeed. (I dare you not to smile back at that one. Or this one!)

Of course, the big news in that article has nothing to do with the weather: "His next single 'Good to be Us' is set to drop in September." Sometimes the littlest sentences cause the biggest buzz...

Now that we know which song, and when, we can take a deep breath and smile for a moment--we've got experience when it comes to helping a great single get from point A to the upper part of the charts, so we know what fun September holds! For right now, the best thing we can do for Bucky's next hit is to support his current hit at full throttle. Success breeds success--and whatever bragging rights "A Different World" garners during its chart run will be factored into playlist decisions once "It's Good to Be Us" crosses your local program director's desk.

Will Bucky's next single be a follow-up to a Top Five hit, a Number One hit (yeah, I said it--Lia said it last night, too, so I've got some expert back up), or will it reach some sweet spot in between? We can be a part of the answer to that question with a second wind of solid support--and we can also take pleasure in the undeniable fact that "A Different World is a hit, no matter how the numbers run. (It really is good to be us--wow. I know all of us were dreaming of this back in the days of the "Bucky Covington CD Cover Un-contest" and the Hugo's Homecoming conference call, but to be sitting here discussing the merits of Bucky's debut Top Five hit moving even higher...now that's what I call good.)

There's a bit of opportunity on the charts this morning--"A Different World" is still #5 on the weighted listings and #6 on the Top 500 at Mediabase, but today's weighted chart reveals not one but two mature hits starting their graceful fall down the list. What's a little alarming is how close the superstar behind Bucky is leaning in! Keep requesting "A Different World" at your favorite local and streaming country stations, be sure to vote in those local "Top X at X" countdowns, and call your favorite nationally syndicated country radio shows, both weeknights and weekends. The bigger a hit single #1 is, the better reception single #2 gets...

If you'd like to sing along with Bucky live, catch him with Rocky, Don, Hans and Shaun at the Belpre Homecoming in Belpre, Ohio this evening. (Say hi to Kathy of Team Covington if you'll be there, and have a blast!) This weekend brings two highly anticipated indoor concerts back-to-back; Bucky and the band will play the elegant State Theatre in State College, PA tomorrow (tickets available at the State Theatre online box office; directions to the easy-to-get-to venue are available here for those driving in from out of the area), and they'll rock the house at the legendary Bottle and Cork in Dewey Beach, Delaware on Sunday (tickets available at Ticketmaster; this is a 21 and over venue.) Bookmark the tour schedule at Bucky's official site, and you'll be good to go...

More very soon--have a fantastic Friday!