Monday news: video update, Top 40 celebrations and more...

Bucky Covington rocks out in the sunshine (top) and shares a spot with Don Medlock (scroll down) at an outdoor show in Turlock, CA earlier this year; click here to enjoy a beautiful set of concert photos by the very kind Minnie. 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 a of Bucky Covington can be ordered at his official site or via his official fan club.

We'll start off with a quick update on the weekend's casting news; Bucky's Tuesday video shoot for "It's Good to Be Us" is now fully cast, and no more extras are required. Congratulations to all who were able to get in on the fun!

A quiet morning is shaping up so far--the tour bus will be parked for a bit (you'll be able to catch Bucky, Don, Shaun, Rocky and Hans at Big Spring Jam in Huntsville, AL on 9/30), so today's biggest news is on the charts, where "It's Good to Be Us" crossed that sweet Top 40 line yesterday afternoon. It begins the week at a healthy #39 on both the Mediabase weighted and Top 500 charts, with two bright red bullets--and as we all know from experience with "A Different World", there's no such thing as a bullet that's too plump!

Now that it's hit that first important milestone, it'll be popping up on more and more stations...and chances are very good that your local country outlet will be one of them. If you've heard "It's Good to Be Us" on the air, call and let them know you'd like to hear it again--a lot--and if you haven't heard it yet, a gentle request or two is in order. The higher it gets on the charts, the easier it is to get your request on the air--and those requests help it climb even higher. Nice the way it all works out, isn't it?

If you're out of practice on the radio-requesting thing--or if you'd just like a trip down memory lane--check out our long requesting tips post from earlier this year, when "A Different World" was first starting to pop up on the airwaves. (And we all know how well that turned out!) For those who'd prefer not to slog through all that, the two biggest tips are these--be sure to only request at stations you can and do actually listen to (if you're local, perfect; and if you're a regular streaming listener, mention that in your email or call) and stay sweet and confident when contacting stations. Bucky and his fans--both the passionate ones and the casual crowd--are blessed to have a genuinely friendly relationship with radio. (Not every ex-Idol is so fortunate!) Keeping the good vibrations going, even when the answer to our requests is "not yet", is vital. Even more of those playlists will be opening up to Bucky's excellent new hit-to-be as time marches on. Keep requesting, and keep the faith!

And if you'd like to keep up with what's been happening on the concert stage, Bucky's generous fans are ready to help you out. Buckaholic was at this past weekend's Hazard, KY show--she's kindly posted some fun concert shots for you here at Photobucket, and her recap is available on Bucky's board at CMT. Thanks and congrats on a great night, Buckaholic!

And this late-night update might have gotten lost in the shuffle, so here it is again--Bucky and Rocky promised the Hazard crowd some from-the-stage cellphone shots, and they kept their word here on Bucky's official MySpace blog. The comments section for that post has turned into a joyous recap and celebration of what must have been a stellar night of music--those lucky people who were there had a blast. For more on how you can enjoy the live Bucky Covington experience, hit our October Concert Roundup post and the tour page on Bucky's official site. We'll post more on fall tour ticket releases as the news rolls in--stay tuned...

Finally, a reminder about this week's issue of Country Weekly--there's a there's a "Seven Questions with Bucky" feature in the Oct. 8th edition (on newsstands now) that you won't want to miss.

More soon--have a wonderful Monday!