Coffee break news: dirt bike memories and tour bus travels (and new photos, too)

Bucky Covington shares a somewhat rain-soaked smile in this great shot taken before his performance at Floyd's Music Store in Tallahassee; photo by the very kind Happydays, who has just posted her excellent concert shots at Photobucket. Thanks, Happydays!

Edited to add get-well wishes and much love to Kathy at Team Covington-- our thoughts are with you and your family.

Bucky Covington's holiday memories are a fun part of a new Country Hound article featuring Christmas recollections by country's stars:

Bucky Covington says his favorite gift for Christmas was a dirt bike, but says his stepfather might not share the same affection for that gift.

"Me and my brother got our first dirt bike. It was a 1984 Honda Z-50," says Bucky. "Me and my brother knew how to ride bikes. We’d always go over to my dad’s and ride bikes. So when we were at my mom’s house with my mom and my stepfather, my stepfather was going to show us how to ride the motorcycle, which we already knew how. He rides around the yard one time, and busts his tail."

Ouch! Be sure to stop in at Country Hound and read about labelmate Trent Tomlinson's sweet (and short!) holiday memory, as well...

Naturally, Bucky's traveling somewhat more luxuriously these days...there's a lot more room to stretch on a tour bus. If you'd like to know when his wheels will be stopping near you, here's a quick list of upcoming shows. (All dates subject to change.)

2007 dates:

12/20: Voodoo Lounge, Harrah's St. Louis [tickets]
12/21: Voodoo Lounge, Harrah's Kansas City, [tickets]
12/31: US99 New Year's Eve Ball, Tinley Park, IL [tickets]


2008 dates:

January 11/12th, 2008: Sound and Speed*, Nashville [tickets]
January 12: Grand Ole Opry, Nashville [tickets]
January 25: Pullo Performing Arts Center, York PA [tickets]
January 31: Opening for Trace Adkins, Lowell, Mass. [tickets]

February 1: Opening for Trace Adkins, Johnstown PA [tickets]
February 14: Opening for Dierks Bentley, Gainesville, FL [tickets]

March 5: Opening for Dierks Bentley, Orillia, ON [tickets]
March 6: Opening for Dierks Bentley, Orillia, ON [tickets
March 15: Opening for Dierks Bentley, Estero, FL [on sale 12/15]

May 3-4: Stagecoach Festival , Indio, California [tickets]
May 28-31: Winfield Country Roundup, Winfield, Kansas [tickets]

June 5-8: CMA Fest, Nashville, Tennessee [tickets]
June 14: Reinholds Fire Co., Reinholds PA [no advance tickets as of yet]
June 21: Porterfield Country Fest, Marinette, WI [ticket info at site]
June 26: Country USA, Oshkosh, Wisconsin [ticket info]
June 27: Countryfest 2008 , Cadott, Wisconsin [tickets]
June 28: Country Stampede, Manhattan, Kansas [tickets]

July 5: Festival of the Bells, Hillsboro, OH [info]

August 30: Kick'n Up Kountry, Thief River Falls, Minnesota [tickets]



Updated to thank the very kind Happydays for her beautiful new Tallahassee concert photos--you can check them out at her Photobucket right now.

Edited again to add a link to Ken's Barnes' breakdown of the year-end Mediabase airplay stats at USAToday's Idol Chatter blog; Bucky made a very strong showing on radio for his first year. "A Different World" was the #23 country song for the 2007, according to Mediabase. (The Radio & Records year-end listings are compiled by a separate monitoring company, and the song landed at #34 there; no matter how you slice it, Bucky Covington's very first single was a big, big hit, and a fantastic way to start off that thirty-year-plus career. Congratulations, Bucky! More soon--Winnie)