Quick Friday news: Bucky Covington in Indiana, wire photos, newspaper interview and more...

Bucky Covington at the WSLC Star B-Q in Salem, VA last week; more of Laura Tucker's beautiful images from the day are available at the So Salem Flickr profile.

(License info: CC BY-SA 2.0)

From the red carpet to the grandstand-- Bucky Covington's got a busy week going, as always! He attended the Nashville premiere of Inglourious Basterds yesterday evening (you can check out a couple of red-carpet shots at Getty Images) and he and his excellent band will rock the WFMS Free Stage at the Indiana State Fair at 6:30 local time tonight. Gate admission to the fair is $8 for adults, and children 5 & under are free. For more info, call the Indiana State Fairgrounds Box Office at (317) 927-7601. (Box office hours are 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.) Have fun and bring a camera!

Next week, Bucky and the band return to the beautiful West for three great concerts in Washington. The Tri-City Herald interviewed Bucky about his upcoming stop at the Benton Franklin Fair, his musical journey to date, and the joys of being on the road with Rocky Covington:

"Rocky and I have a lot of fun pretending to be each other," Covington said with a laugh. "He usually wears a (cowboy) hat and I don't. So when we decide to go out somewhere I'll wear the hat and he won't. Women have actually pushed me out of the way to get to him thinking he's me. It's hilarious."

Of course, on stage all bets are off when it comes to who wears the cowboy hat, yes? Bookmark Bucky's MySpace calendar, Buckytown USA's concert sidebar and Bucky Covington's official tour page, and get ready to enjoy the Covington brothers (and their hats) live and in person...

Who's got the hat? Bucky Covington and Rocky Covington sport hats and smiles at the Alameda County Fair in this classic concert shot by our talented friend Minnie. Thanks again!

Enjoying Bucky on the radio is getting easier every day, thank heaven. This post is happening a little too early for the morning Mediabase charts, but last night's update listed his current single, "I Want My Life Back", at #29 with a bullet. We are definitely eager to hold on to that momentum--with weekend requests from us and a boost from the countdown airplay, Bucky's mid-twenties chart spot (and the long-awaited music video) could be very close, indeed. (Call your local country station today and ask for Bucky's latest--and while you're at it, write our good friend Larry K of WKML at country@wkml.com to request "I Want My Life Back" for their "Top 5 at 6".)

One more hat shot for the road: Jeff Cease and Bucky Covington at the Santa Barbara County Fair; thanks to a very kind anonymous photographer for sharing this one.

We'll wrap things up for now with a reminder about today's live broadcast from the Indiana State Fair; JD Cannon will be at the WFMS Super Studio from 3-7 or so, and we're hoping for an interview and podcast sometime this afternoon. JD Cannon's Twitter is a great bookmark, as well--he's been posting lots of shots of the fair's performers via TwitPic (check out this sunny snap with Bucky's labelmate Sarah Buxton) so keep an eye out for Bucky's familiar smile...

Happy Friday, everybody!--Winnie