First look at Friday: Country Weekly update, Delaware State Fair, Winfield schedule and more..

Thanks to the very gracious Buckymouse for this terrific photo of Bucky Covington on stage in Rio Rancho, NM Wednesdsay night; she also captured Rocky Covington looking very dashing indeed in a new hat (scroll down.) Kudos to Buckymouse for sharing!

Bucky's fans in Delaware can now consider those rumors confirmed--he will indeed be part of this year's Delaware State Fair on July 23rd, when he'll open for the great Trace Adkins. (These two gentlemen have lots of mutual fans. This should be a night to remember!) Tickets go on sale May 15th; you'll be able to buy them online via the Fair's site, or click here for more info on ticket options, locally and nationally. Congratulations!)

Bucky's also part of this year's Winfield Country Roundup in Kansas, where the performance schedule has been posted--looks like Bucky's fans at the Roundup are going to be treated to an evening show! He and his excellent band will take the stage there on Friday, May 30th at 8:30 p.m.; they'll be playing after Luke Bryan, and just before Lorrie Morgan tops off the night. Ticket information is here--there are one-day passes available at the gate, too. (KFDI in Wichita is co-sponsoring the festival, so you might want to tune in for any developments...)

Thanks to the very kind Buckems for an update on last month's survey at Country Weekly. Remember that "who can fill these boots" poll? George Strait is an Idol for just about every country fan, and Country Weekly gave fans of emerging stars a chance to express their confidence in their "Kings In Waiting". Bucky came in at a very impressive #3! To find out who else made the list, pick up the May 19th issue of Country Weekly, on newsstands now. (There's a great feature article about Bucky's labelmate Josh Gracin in the online edition, too.)

Bucky's latest single. "I'll Walk" is doing very nicely--it was #1 on yesterday's WKML "Top 5 at 6" (thanks to a kind anonymous poster for the news) and it's a bulleted #63 on the Mediabase weighted chart this morning. Midask9 describes an interesting chat with her local DJ at It's Good to Be Us today (go look!) and the general buzz is that Monday, May 5th is the official official release date. If your local country station hopped on board early, feel free to call them up and request "I'll Walk"! There's a new blog entry at Bucky's MySpace with a link to some great request graphics that you can use on your MySpace profile, blog or site. Hang on tight--it's going to be a fun chart-watching spring and summer.

More later today--see you in a bit!--Winnie