Quick Sunday news: new photos from Floyd's, Billy Bob's tonight, "Santa Claus" takes flight, and more (updated)

Bucky Covington strikes a soulful note on stage (top) and smiles in close-up (scroll down) in two fantastic shots from last night's show at Floyd's Music Store in Tallahassee; photos by our talented friend Janie, who shared these hot off the presses. You'll find more of her beautiful concert shots here. Thanks so much, Janie! Bucky Covington's debut CD is in stores now, and his music video for "It's Good to Be Us" 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 his music atCMT 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.

Bucky Covington returns to Texas for an all-star event that promises to be an exciting change of pace; KPLX's 12-Man Jam is tonight, and two thirds of the now-legendary "Platinum Cowboyz" will be on hand to add their talents to this acoustic show. If you loved seeing Bucky and Jason Michael Carroll on the same stage--we did!--consider this a kinda-sorta reunion. Here are the details:

Sunday, 12/16/2007
99.5 The Wolf 12 Man Jam
Billy Bob's Texas
2520 Rodeo Plaza
Fort Worth, TX 76164
(with 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)

Website: Billy Bob's Texas
Ticket info: Tickets are free at selected giveaway locations; see the KPLX site for details and times
Directions: Mapquest
Other info: KPLX is giving away tickets on the air, and co-sponsoring a sweepstakes for a pair of VIP seats on stage with Park Cities Dodge ; listen in and visit the station's site for details.

Photo by Janie; click the image to see more fresh shots from Tallahassee. Thanks, Janie!

After this show, Bucky takes a few days off before hitting the Midwest on the 20th, when he'll play the Voodoo Lounge at Harrah's St. Louis (snag your spot at Ticketmaster), and the 21st, when he'll play the Voodoo Lounge at Harrah's Kansas City (tickets here.) Bucky's big year wraps up with a big New Year's Ball sponsored by Chicago's US99.5; read all about it, then get ready to ring in 2008 with Keith Anderson, Luke Bryan, and Bucky Covington at the Tinley Park Convention Center--tickets may still be available at Ticketmaster.

For more tour info, bookmark Bucky's official website, his MySpace, this handy animated Gruvr tour map and our December/January Concert Roundup, and hang on tight--it's going to be a wild and wonderful ride...

On the radio, Bucky's "It's Good to Be Us" is holding on strong--the expected "superstar polevault" has happened, and he's at #26 on both the Mediabase weighted and Top 500 charts this morning, with bullets on both. And it sure looks like Santa's reindeer got a burst of caffeine yesterday. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" jumped up to #85 overnight on the weighted chart! Keep requesting Bucky at your favorite local or streaming country stations and remember those local "Top X at X" countdowns, too--it's all crucial this week. (We still love thatTop 25 spot--definitely worth some extra phone calls and emails...)

And of course, we've got some ground we want to retake on the video countdowns, too--no time like the present to give Bucky's beautiful clip for "It's Good to be Us" some affection! Watch it now at CMT, and give Bucky some love at GAC's Top 20 Country Countdown, CMT's Top 20 Countdown and at CMT's Pure Country Pure 12-Pack. (That About.com's Country Music category Top Singles poll ends tomorrow, so be sure to stop in there, too.)

Finally, a couple of "vintage" photo links to go with Janie's hot-off-the-presses photos--after you've enjoyed her stunning shots from last night's Tallahassee show (thanks, Janie--they're terrific!), check out two fun galleries we missed earlier this year. Here, a kind concertgoer shares some photos and a brief but very positive review of Bucky's Black Gold Festival performance back in September; and over here, enjoy some small but excellent images from the Big Spring Jam, courtesy of a talented photo-blogger.

Updated to add a link to Team Covington, where Kathy's posted some important news about a Country Weekly survey that we all are going to want to get in on...more about that soon.

Have a lovely Sunday!