Bucky Covington, Sawyer Brown and Love and Theft bring holiday cheer to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House

At the Ronald McDonald House: Front- Christopher, Hobie Hubbard (Sawyer Brown), Bucky Covington; Back- Stephen Barker Liles (Love And Theft), Mark Miller (Sawyer Brown), Don Harris (O-Seven Artist Management), Brian Bandas (Love And Theft). Photo courtesy of O-Seven Artist Management; click image for a larger version.

NASHVILLE, TN / November 30, 2009 – O-Seven Artist Management along with their acts Bucky Covington, Sawyer Brown and Love And Theft all joined together to bring a little extra pre-holiday cheer to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital recently with a surprise guitar pull. To the children’s delight, the performance included a mix of favorite Christmas carols and country hits. Many of the children jumped in and played toy drums, tambourines and maracas along to the music. After the show, all of the performers visited with the children, their families and hospital employees.

“Seeing all of the children’s faces light up was an early Christmas gift for me,” said Bucky. “All of these children are going through trying times and have long days. I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to give them a nice break in the day and bring a little holiday cheer.”

Sawyer Brown and Bucky Covington performing at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital; photo courtesy O-Seven Artist Management.

From there the entire O-Seven crew all caravanned over to the Ronald McDonald House, a non-profit organization that provides essential resources and a "home away from home" for families of critically ill children receiving inpatient or outpatient medical care at Nashville area hospitals. Together they prepared and served up a special birthday lunch for one of the young children currently undergoing treatment at Vanderbilt. On the menu was a build-your-own taco bar complete with all of the essential fixings and brownies for dessert. Bucky, the members of Sawyer Brown and Love And Theft donned birthday party hats, played balloon toss and got the whole house singing Happy Birthday.

For additional information on Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, visit http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.org. Find out more about the Nashville Ronald McDonald House at http://www.rmhcnashville.com.

(Thanks to Sweet Talk Publicity for the news--more soon!--Winnie)

A Country Weekly poll, a request reminder, and some notes about a "different world"...

Bucky Covington (with Tom Hurst on drums) rocked the Fire Jam in Hillsboro, Kansas last week; click the image to view that night's stellar performance of his hit, "I Want My Life Back", and click here for his current concert schedule. Thanks to the very gracious Judy Lang for the photo!

Many thanks to a kind reader who alerted us to this poll--Country Weekly magazine (which has an article on Bucky Covington in this week's issue) is running a Cyber Poll that asks "Which new album are you most looking forward to?" Three upcoming releases by superstars are offered as choices, and the fourth option is "other", with space for a write-in vote. (Did I mention that Bucky Covington's long-awaited second album will be in stores and online everywhere October 13th? Just sayin'...)

Ducky Medlock, Bucky Covington and Steve Cook on stage at Bucky's official fan club party in Nashville; photo by the very kind AmaTexMom of BuckyFanPics. Thanks again!

The semi-long-awaited photos from Bucky's Grand Ole Opry performance last night are unfortunately still being awaited as of post time. However, if you'd like to get a general idea of what it looked like at yesterday's Tuesday Night Opry, the official street team of Bucky's labelmates Love and Theft has Lyric Street-provided photos from their terrific set posted at their MySpace. We found the L&T shots via the street team's label-sponsored Twitter--can't help but think of what a "different world" it is for new artists now when it comes to online support! Twitter, Mozes and iPhone apps were either non-existent or barely unboxed when Buckymania made its debut in 2006; now stars and labels use instant tech to contact and mobilize fans directly, and this fan blog format seems almost quaint and outdated. (Yes, I am feeling like the owner of a Zenith with three TV channels you get up to change, tonight--but still here we are...)

One old tech that always works beautifully is the phone--the one we'll be using to request "I Want My Life Back" on the radio tonight! Call your local live DJ at your favorite country station, or contact the syndicated host or hostess on the air near you:

Lia: 1-800-577-7LIA
The Big Time w/Whitney Allen: 1-877-494-4963
After MidNite: 1-800-722-6483
CMT Radio Live w/Cody Alan: 1-866-877-4CMT
2nd Shift w/Alan Kabel: 1-888-96NIGHT
GAC Nights: 1-866-942-GAC1

Sweet dreams, everyone--Winnie