Monday news: Power Picks today, Harrah's tickets, a return to Billy Bob's and more...

Bucky Covington on stage at Coyote Joe's in Charlotte, North Carolina on 11/23; photo by the very gracious Happydays, who shares more of her great concert shots in her Photobucket album. Thanks again, Happydays! Bucky Covington's debut CD is in stores now, and his music videos 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 versions of his singles at CMT and GAC, or enjoy song samples at Bucky's official MySpace. A copy of Bucky Covington can be ordered at his official site or via his official fan club.

Bucky Covington's "A Different World" is one of the contenders during today's CMT Power Picks video-challenge show. The program starts at noon ET, and Bucky's matchup will happen about halfway through the show; click here to go directly to the Power Picks main page, hit the "Vote Now" link, and stand by to cast your vote for Bucky...

If you're one of the lucky concertgoers who had the pleasure of enjoying Bucky Covington, Jason Michael Carroll and Cole Deggs & the Lonesome at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth this past weekend, you're about to get even luckier--two-thirds of the "Platinum Cowboyz" will be part of 99.5 The Wolf's 12 Man Jam on December 16th. From the station's site:

It's a one of kind acoustic performance at Billy Bobs Texas, Sunday, December 16th!!! Get your FREE TICKETS by listening to 99.5 The Wolf or going to our roadshows. Every Wolf DJ will have tickets to give away. Plus, we'll be on the streets flinging out thousands of FREE TICKETS too! Doors open at 2p, show starts at 5p. See below for the full lineup, directions, and how you can win the BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE, right on stage...

Click here to see where to get your FREE TICKETS... Ticket Upgrades to Reserved Seats Available on scene at the event.

The 12 Man Jam stars Chris Cagle, Lee Ann Womack, Halfway to Hazard, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt, Zona Jones, Ashton Shepherd, Eric Church, Stoney Larue, Chuck Wicks, Jason Michael Carroll and Bucky Covington. If you're in the listening area, you can snag free tickets today from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at the Kroger in Cleburne, West Henderson at Ridgeway, and at Sheplers in Arlington, Division St and Hwy 360, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Just be among the first 99 listeners in line, and you're in! Bookmark this page for maps and locations of future ticket giveaways.

As for that contest to win the VIP seat on stage, here's the word from the site: "Register to win VIP seating ON STAGE at any Park Cities Dodge roadshow appearance. Hurry out to Park Cities Dodge for your chance to WIN the Best Seat in the House!"

AmaTexMom reports that the Raisin' the Bar show was a big hit at the World's Biggest Honky Tonk. "Fort Worth is our kind of town when Bucky sings at the famous Billy Bob's of Texas," she writes. "It is a great place and met lots of devoted Bucky fans. I must say he was shining as always, and love Rocky on those Bongo drums."

She also asked us to pass along a message from one of those devoted fans; a kind lady from Covington, Texas who came out to the show left Billy Bob's with lots of great memories, but alas, minus her digital camera. It was lost as she stood near the stage at the end of the show, and it contains her one and only meet and greet photo with Bucky. If you have any news about the camera, or if you might have taken a photo of this fan with Bucky (she wore a short-sleeved black lace top, blue jeans and a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant), please email me at the address on the sidebar, and I'll do my best to pass the word along.

Edited to add a note from our friend Judge in the comments section: "...The person who lost the camera may want to become a friend of Billy Bob's on MySpace and post about her camera on the comment section..." Excellent idea--thanks, Judge...

The Raisin' the Bar tour has four more dates to go--time files when you're having fun!--and the last few shows promise to be the wildest ever. You'll definitely want bragging rights for this memorable tour, so snag those tickets while you can...they're going fast, y'all.


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]

And another tour update--tickets for Bucky's December 21st show at Harrah's Kansas City's Voodoo Lounge are available now at Ticketmaster. This concert benefits the Sunshine Center, a nonprofit United Way agency that serves children with developmental delays, fragile medical conditions and physical disabilities.

If you haven't stopped by Team Covington today, head over there now--Kathy found some fantastic shots from the Kicks 99 Guitar Pull that'll brighten your Monday morning, along with a link to a video mix from the show! Many thanks to Kathy and Heather for sharing.

We're too early for the morning charts as of post time, but Bucky's "It's Good to Be Us" ended Sunday at #29 on both the weighted and Top 500 charts after a brief "superstar bump" on Saturday. We'll repeat our daily mantra--keep requesting "It's Good to Be Us" at your favorite local or streaming country station, get ready for another week of "Top X at X" countdowns, and phone in a request on your favorite nationally syndicated country radio show tonight--it's always fun to hear Bucky's latest coast-to-coast.

With holiday programming slowly but surely taking up a bit of "regular" radio airtime, it's sweet to have a surprise Christmas hit brewing right alongside "It's Good to Be Us". Bucky's irresistible "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" is nearing "Hot 100" status on the Mediabase weighted country chart, and Buckyflowers passed along some fun trivia from the very kind Kgator: "I was wondering who sang the one bass line in Bucky's 'Santa' song. Kgator told me tonight it was Mark Miller!! How cool is that!" Very cool, indeed--thanks! (The song's also available as a digital single at WalMart Music, if you'd like a permanent keepsake...)


In TV news, Bucky, Jason and Cole get their game on in style during this week's CMT Insider;" the final re-run happens today at 11:30 a.m. ET. Bucky's video for "It's Good to Be Us" is pretty stylish, too--watch it at CMT, then give him a round of applause at GAC's Top 20 Country Countdown, CMT's Top 20 Countdown, at the GAC Top 50 Videos of the Year poll and at CMT's Pure Country Pure 12-Pack. (We're hoping for a CMT Top 20 Countdown debut this week--fingers crossed...)

Last but absolutely not least, here's a fun musical blast from the recent past courtesy of Ducky Medlock's good buddy Circletree--those of us who've enjoyed Bucky's bandmate's excellent vocal stylings live will get a big kick out of the tune posted at the Suntrust Bank Robbery Service MySpace at the moment. Enjoy! (Thanks, Circletree...)

More soon--have a wondrous Monday!