Quick Tuesday news: Power Picks, late-release seats and more...

Bucky Covington on stage at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, 11/17; this striking photo was taken by our talented friend Honeygirl, who shares more of the excitement from that night in her beautiful Flickr photoset. Thanks again, Honeygirl! Bucky Covington's debut CD is in stores now, and his music videos for "It's Good to Be Us" and "A Different World" are 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 singles at CMT and GAC, or enjoy samples of songs from the CD at Bucky's official MySpace. A copy of Bucky Covington can be ordered at his official site or via his official fan club.

Just a reminder about today's CMT Power Picks--voting is happening right now and the winning video will kick off today's program at 12 noon ET. Bucky Covington's "It's Good to Be Us" sounds like a fine lunchthime treat to us! Scroll down to that "Vote Now" button, wait for the pop-up and click away. (Edited to add results: Bucky won this matchup! Mega thanks to everyone who voted.)

Today's biggest news came last night--Bucky will be opening two shows with Trace Adkins during Trace's upcoming American Man tour, and while the information's still emerging, the excitement is already at full tilt. So far, there's only a hint of ticket info--just the on-sale date--at Trace's official site for the Lowell, MA show, and a simple listing for the Johnstown, PA show. The minute we hear anything about venues or ticket outlets, we'll pass it along. (And if you hear anything, please feel free to leave a note in comments.) Huge congratulations to Bucky--those are going to be two unforgettable shows.

The Raisin' the Bar tour is making some sweet musical memories across the country, too, and if you planned to hit the Billy Bob's Texas show in Fort Worth on 12/1, you'll want to get to Ticketmaster now--looks like some excellent "production hold" seats in the first couple of rows have just been released! This is one show you'll love seeing close up and personal; Bucky Covington, Jason Michael Carroll and Cole Deggs & the Lonesome rock the house fiercely, and there's nothing like a great view up front to help you savor the fun. Good luck! Here are your last few chances to enjoy three of country's hottest emerging stars in one spectacular night:


November 28 Uncle Ron's, Lincoln NE (402) 474-2332
November 30 Beaumont Club Kansas City, MO [TM]
December 1 Billy Bob’s Texas Fort Worth, TX [TM]
December 5 Northern Lights Clifton Park, NY [tickets]
December 6 Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse Burgettstown, PA [TM]
December 7 Crocodile Rock Café Allentown, PA [TM]
December 8 Rams Head Live! Baltimore, MD [tickets]


While we're talkin' Raisin' the Bar, we'll repeat that ticket information for the lucky Lincoln folks who'll enjoy their first taste of Bucky Covington live tomorrow night: seats may still be available at The Fort Western Outfitters (903 Central Ave in Nebraska City), CD Warehouse, Hasting State Bank locations in Lincoln, or by phone at Uncle Ron's (474-2332). Froggy 98 could still be giving away seats, too--can't hurt to listen in!

Listening to the radio is becoming more of a treat for Bucky Covington's fans as "It's Good to Be Us" makes its way up the Mediabase listings; it's lookin' good at #29 on both the weighted and Top 500 charts again today. Yep, I'll say it again--keep requesting "It's Good to Be Us" at your favorite local or streaming country stations, watch the video at CMT, and give Bucky's exciting music video some affection at GAC's Top 20 Country Countdown, at CMT's Top 20 Countdown, at the GAC Top 50 Videos of the Year poll and at CMT's Pure Country Pure 12-Pack.

If your country station's gone to an all-holiday format (or if it will be going all-holiday soon, or if there are some all-holiday hours in the day right now...) feel free to ask your local DJ for Bucky's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", too. So far, it looks like his fans in Des Moines are hearing this Christmas goodie on a regular basis, thanks to 97.3 The Hawk. As the big day grows closer, the holiday programming will expand--and it's always fun to have Bucky in the mix.

More later today--have a terrific Tuesday!