Thursday news: Power Picks today, Country Weekly survey, new interview at YouTube, CMT Music Awards voting ends soon and more...

The moment this one scrolled off the page, we got an email asking for it to be posted again--happy to oblige! Here's Bucky Covington on stage in Wallingford, Connecticut; photo by the talented Beesims, who shares more of her concert shots at Flickr. Thanks again, Beesims!

Bucky Covington's CMT Power Picks matchup is coming up soon; tune in and log on at 11 a.m. ET (please note new time) to vote. "It's Good to Be Us will face a challenge at the beginning of the show. At 11, please click that button to go to the main Power Picks site, hit the "Vote Now" link, and watch that pop-up voting window. When you see Bucky's photo, mouse-click him to victory! (Thanks to Laura and Dixie for their very kind reminders.)

Update--a big win! Bucky took this matchup with an 84% lead, according to an email. Thanks to all who mouse-clicked in today!

Bucky Covington's popping up all over today! Besides his Throttle Wide Open show with Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan tonight at the at the Elliott Hall of Music at Perdue University in West Lafayette, IN (tickets here), you'll find him all over the net--the Tuscon Citizen featured Bucky and his friend Kellie Pickler as part of an article about the upcoming Country Thunder festival in Florence, Arizona. (Bucky's performing on Saturday, April 19th. Tickets and information are available on the festival's site, and Country Thunder offers a newsletter, too.)

And if you're in a voting mood, how about a nice Country Weekly survey? They're wondering who is going to fill some pretty legendary boots at some point in the future--Bucky's one of the contenders, and the survey is in progress now. (Hurry on over, though--voting ends April 14th. It's always good to see Bucky's face--and name--in Country Weekly!)

Update--there's a new interview video with Bucky at YouTube, via the kind folks at WKDF. See you there!

Here's a quick look at the rest of today's goings-on:

Chart news: Bucky's single "It's Good to Be Us" is once again #11 on both the Mediabase weighted and Top 500 charts today--the bullets aren't in sight, but our calls, emails and votes in support of Bucky on the radio are important, no matter which point at the chart cycle we're on. (Remember, too, that some local stations added this single very late, and it may be still on the rise in your local Top X at X surveys!) It's still bulleted at Billboard, though, coming in at #11 on the Hot Country Songs chart for the week. Letting your station know you enjoy hearing him paves the way for more airtime for Bucky--and that's always a good, good thing.

Upcoming shows: Dierks, Bucky and Luke Bryan bring the Throttle Wide Open show to the Elliott Hall of Music at Perdue University in West Lafayette, IN tonight (tickets here) and tomorrow, be with them as they rock the Braden Auditorium at Illinois State University in Normal (tickets at Ticketmaster; student tickets at the Braden Box Office in the Bone Student Center.) On Saturday April 12th, the show moves to the Rockford, Illinois--snag your seat at the MetroCentre site. (And have fun!)

Tickets for most of Dierks Bentley's Throttle Wide Open dates are available now at Ticketmaster--check Dierks' official website for details on non-Ticketmaster events.

On the tube and around the net: The Covington Times is graced with a fun Poughkeepsie concert shot by Pizzi, a smiling Rocky Covington portrait by an unknown photographer, and a wistful bit of musings about the mysteries of radio charts. (We're with you!) Midask9's It's Good to Be Us blog will have an update on Team Wisconsin's lovely "Bucky Buddies" charity initiative ,and just look at those faces asking you to request "It;s Good to Be Us" this morning!. And over at Country's Chatter , you'll find a very cool "roundup" post featuring Bucky's labelmate Josh Gracin and his former tourmates Blue County.

Lost in the shuffle yesterday was a kind heads-up by an anon who watched CMT's 100 Greatest Videos this weekend--Bucky was one of the many celebrity commenters--he adds his brief observations to Carrie's "Before He Cheats". Catch it today at 1:00 pm ET on CMT, and my apologies to our anonymous friend for not getting it posted yesterday!

Finally, be sure to check out the exciting video for "It's Good to Be Us" on GAC today: it'll air at 4:03 ET this afternoon, and again at 9:19 tonight.

Vote for Bucky: "It's Good to Be Us" is always ready for our votes, love and affection! Give Bucky a hand at GAC Top 20 Country Countdown and at CMT's Top 20 Countdown.

There's only one day and a few hours left to vote for Bucky's "A Different World" in the 2008 CMT Music Awards--we'll have more to say about it tonight but for now, the word is hurry! Register at CMT and vote now---and recruit as many friends, co-workers and neighbors as you can...

More soon!