Very quick Thursday news: Gone Country interview, Idol last night, on the road again and more...

Bucky Covington charms the crowd at the Foothills Fall Festival in Maryville, Tennessee, 10/13; photo by the very gracious Honeygirl, who shares more of her beautiful images here. Thanks, Honeygirl!

Look for more news here later today (real-life duty calls this morning, alas), but in the meantime, here's a very quick look at the news:

Feedback from last night's American Idol "Nashville Roundup" was pretty positive--it was fun having Bucky Covington (and "It's Good to Be Us") in the network TV spotlight for a moment! The only two repeated gripes we've heard were it was far too short--can we ever get enough of Bucky on TV?--and that Bucky Covington's talented labelmate Josh Gracin was missed. (Josh's new album, We Weren't Crazy, is in stores now.) Congrats to Phil Stacey and Bo Bice and to the many mutual fans of all four Nashville-based gentlemen--we've got a lot of excellent music to celebrate...

Chart news: "It's Good to Be Us" is #11 on both the Mediabase weighted and Top 500 charts for the second straight morning, and it's #13 on Billboard's Hot Country singles chart for the week. (Keep on requesting, y'all! It's a great week to ask your local DJ for Bucky's current hit--last night's show is still causing a bit of buzz today....)

Upcoming shows: Bucky's back on the road with Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan even as we speak--the Throttle Wide Open tour starts up again in in Jackson, Tennessee tonight. (You might still be able to snag a last minute seat at the City of Jackson site...)

The BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Alabama is the place to be tomorrow, April 4th--hope there are some hot late release seats at Ticketmaster right now! And on Saturday, April 5, the party comes to the Summit Arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas (tickets here .) 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 features a great shot of Bucky from the Big Hearts Ball by Nplclkhmlbg, a cute Rocky Covington photo from a WSOC show, and that wonderful historic photo of the Bucky Covington CD billboard by My4Frogs; and at Midask9's It's Good to Be Us you'll find a fun concert shot (and a funny note about the circumstances under which it was taken) along with some strong encouragement for requests.

If you missed Jessica Murphy's exclusive interview with Bucky at CMT.com, there's no time like the present to check it out--it's a wonderful glimpse into his musical present and future.

Edited to add a link to a very fresh interview by Cathy Anne at Gone Gountry Magazine--she sat down with Bucky before the Poughkeepsie show and got some fun answers about everything from Bucky's plans for his second album to the origins of his dislike for cheese. This one's a hoot--enjoy!


Vote for Bucky: Voting for the 2008 CMT Music Awards, ends in just over a week, on April 11th. Register at CMT and vote now, and recruit as many friends, co-workers and neighbors as you can. Time's flying...

And of course, "It's Good to Be Us" deserves some love and affection at GAC Top 20 Country Countdown and at CMT's Top 20 Countdown.

More later--see you soon!--Winnie