© Kristin Barlowe
August 15, 2007
Bucky Covington: American Idol's Latest Success Story In Country Music
By Janelle Landauer
American Idol's record of finding the next big undiscovered artist in country music has been spot on so far. Josh Gracin, Carrie Underwood, and Kellie Pickler are among the list of former American Idol contestants who were able to take their immense fan base from the show and bring those fans with them to help launch their individual careers in the country music industry.
Bucky Covington is the latest artist to embark on a career in country music after receiving national attention on the FOX reality show American Idol. Covington was actually spotted by Mark Miller's son - who urged him to give Bucky a call after he was eliminated on Season 5 (2006). Miller is the front-man of the hit country group Sawyer Brown, and is known by many country fans for his wacky and energetic dance moves up on stage. Miller took Covington in the studio and co-produced his self-titled debut album for Lyric Street Records which was released on April 17, 2007.
Covington's debut single, "A Different World" charted inside the top 10 on the country charts and pushed his self-titled CD sales to over 220,000 copies since its release. The album, Bucky Covington debuted atop the Nielsen SoundScan's Country Top 75 Chart and broke a couple records in the process as well. In 2007, the CD scored the biggest unit debut from a new country artist and it also was the best first week sales and highest Top 200 debut for any new male country artist since 1992 - with Billy Ray Cyrus.
Covington's debut features 11 songs including one of which he co-wrote ("Carolina Blue") with Mark Miller and Gregg Hubbard. Covington will probably get the chance to include more songs that he wrote or co-wrote on future projects when he's more established of an artist. In the meantime, though, Covington's raspy southern rock vocals have captivated his fans from American Idol and in the process, he has drawn in more fans aside from the show when he made his country music debut.
"I'll Walk" tells a touching story and is probably one of the best ballads from Covington on this CD. The story in the song tells of a girl and a guy at prom; They have their first big fight and as they're driving home, she says "I'll walk" and decides to walk home. A driver came around the bend, couldn't see her and ended up hitting her. At the hospital, her legs still wouldn't move but when the guy gets there, she tells him "I'll walk." After therapy and everything, they decide to get married; Her dad was bringing her down the aisle in a wheelchair when she looked up at him and said, "I'll walk." You can't get a more vivid story than within this song and you can feel the emotion in Covington's vocals as he's singing this one.
Other stand out tracks include: "I'm Good," "Hometown," and "It's Good To Be Us." For more information on Bucky Covington visit his official websites at: www.buckycovingtonmusic.com or www.myspace.com/buckycovington
