Tuesday news: full "Throttle" soon, chart gazing and more...

Bucky Covington on stage at the KMLE Pre-Show Party at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion in Phoenix; photo by the fabulous Sunscreen of the Bucky Truck Stop at Rawkhands. Click the image to see many more of her beautiful Phoenix shots. Thanks again, Sunscreen!

The excitement's buliding! In a couple of days, Dierks Bentley's Throttle Wide Open tour will begin in Gainesville, and with Bucky Covington and Luke Bryan along for the evening, it'll be a night to remember. Those hoping for the last minute, up-close "production-release" seats should keep a Ticketmaster window for that show open today and tomorrow--you could get very lucky, indeed. Fingers crossed for you--may you get great seats for what's sure to be a great show!

Here's what else is happening today:

Chart news: Bucky's "It's Good to Be Us" was "polevaulted" by a longtime hitmaker yesterday, and it's currently #18 on the Mediabase weighted chart and #17 on the Top 500.* The good news is that the bullets are steadily growing--a little more requesting and "Top X at X" voting on our parts could make them plumper still. (Remember Lia, The Big Time with Whitney Allen, Danny Wright All Night, and/or After Midnite, too--they'd love to hear from us...)

Upcoming shows: A friendly reminder--tickets for most stops on Dierks Bentley's Throttle Wide Open tour are available now at Ticketmaster.

Dierks Bentley Fan Club pre-sale tickets for the 4/4 concert in Birmingham will be available tomorrow, 2/13, at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster. You can also snag Dierks Bentley Fan Club pre-sale tickets for the 4/10 Elliott Hall of Music show in West Layfayette, IN there--same starting date and time. (Looks like there are venue and All-Access bundle pre-sales, as well--see those TM pages for details.)

The Jackson, TN Dierks Bentley concert on April 3rd is a non-TM event, and those seats are available at the City of Jackson site. The Machine Shop in Flint, MI will welcome Bucky and his excellent band on 2/2, and your ticket to this 18-and-over, general admission show is waiting for you at www.etix.com.

Bucky Covington rocks out with Ducky Medlock and Shaun Bayles in this excellent action shot from their Chillicothe show by the very kind Danna. Thanks so much for the beautiful photos, Danna!

On the tube and around the net: The CMT Online Awards get some TV time this evening--catch them on CMT tonight at 11:00 p.m. ET. GAC tops off your late-night TV fare with Bucky's video for "It's Good to Be Us" at 11:32 p.m.

Online, enjoy a great shot from last year's ACM Awards arrivals (we're hoping Bucky will be there this year, too!) and a beautiful Rocky Covington portrait at The Covington Times this morning. They've also posted a sweet double-dose of history from Bucky's Idol season and his "A Different World" video debut.

Vote for Bucky: Bet you're not surprised to see that big ol' 2008 CMT Music Awards button over there, are you? This could be a huge, huge shining moment for Bucky on national TV with many repeats, and all the pestering...um, "encouragement" you and I have been giving our friends, neighbors and assorted cohorts is so going be worth it when he's got that belt buckle in hand. If you haven't done it already, register and vote right away!

The newly announced Gone Country Magazine "favorite country Idol" poll is looking like an extremely close race between two very talented Lyric Street singers--have a look, vote and have fun...

The Country Weekly "Country's Hottest Bachelor" survey rolls on for a little bit longer, but the deadline must be approaching soon--get your votes in now. And thanks again to Ann and Laura for writing in with an explanation of the Idol Thoughts consolation round--we're currently voting for the 9th and 10th ranked singers.

Last but not at all least, a bit of love and support for "It's Good to Be Us" is a beautiful thing--give it a cheer at the new drag-and-drop GAC Top 20 Country Countdown, at CMT's Top 20 Countdown and at CMT's Pure Country Pure 12-Pack.

More later--have a terrific Tuesday!

*Thanks to Ogopogo for the chart correction. (I should never post before coffee! --Winnie)