CMT Blog: Bucky Covington

I've always liked a man with a good sense of humor, and if Bucky Covington's engaging personality is any indication of what to expect from his upcoming album, I'm Alright, due out next spring, it's surely a must-hear. Since he and his twin brother recently turned "32 years good," as he likes to call it, I asked him how they celebrated their birthday. He informed me that the two sat around a campfire at his new 80-acre farm and came up with the great idea of riding dirt bikes. "So, safety first, we took flashlights and duct-taped them to the front fenders," he laughed. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough light because Bucky crashed and hurt his left knee. Thinking on his feet, so to speak, he grabbed his nearest resource. "So I duct taped a ShamWow to my knee. It worked great, but by the time I got home, I was a pint low," he laughed. "ShamWow!"

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Toby Keith and the tag team match of Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins head up a batch of seven videos that were screened by the CMT New Music Video Evaluation Team. Joe Nichols says goodbye to a dear old friend of his. Bucky Covington takes a rock song live. Gene Watson and Rhonda Vincent look at a sad family situation. John Fogerty remembers the Everly Brothers. And you can meet the new sister group, the McClymonts.

Artist: Toby Keith
Video: "Cryin' for Me"
Director: Michael Salamon

Toby Keith has written a song and a video tribute to his late friend, basketball great and jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale. He says goodbye to his friend in a very personal way.

Panelists' comments: "Damn, that was sad." "But so sweet." "Amen ... what can you say." "I think he did a great job with it."

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Bucky Covington's latest single is actually a cover of Nickelback's "Gotta Be Somebody," but judging by the crowd's reaction in this video for the song, his fans like the idea just fine. I guess it shows how certain songs have a sentiment that crosses musical boundaries, because to me it sounds strikingly similar to the original (which was a top 10 pop hit), just a little smoother. The rasp in his voice is even a lot like Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger's, but Covington takes a bit of the edge off and replaces it with his trademark smile.

My whole family gathered around last night (Sept. 23) to watch Bucky Covington on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on CMT. And you know what? He is. He was even smarter than the smartest person in my house: my high school freshman daughter.

His appearance was part of the celebrity week on the show. And his winnings of $25,000 went to the charity of his choice, the Arthritis Foundation. (He said when he was a kid, his mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and he knows they need the help.)

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Actually, he said he was very glad not to be working his old job at his dad's mechanic shop, so that's not entirely true. But as he prepares for the Oct. 13 release of his next album, Bucky Covington recently stopped by the CMT offices to play a few new songs, and one of them was the album's first single, "I Want My Life Back." It's a story about wisdom found in a homeless man's refusal of a handout, since money can't buy what he really wants. The former American Idol contestant also related that Mark Miller, vocalist of the group Sawyer Brown, returns as producer of the upcoming album and that it will feature an unusual choice of a cover song, Nickelback's "Gotta Be Somebody." Look for the video for "I Want My Life Back" on CMT.com soon. For now, though, you can hear an extended preview of the song on Covington's MySpace page.

Hindsight is 20/20. You don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. And all those other clichés about retrospectiveness. They all make for good country music. But now that Kenny Chesney has moved away from songs about wanting things to be like they used to be ("The Good Stuff," "There Goes My Life" and "Don't Blink"), it's time for someone else to pick up that lyrical slack. And Bucky Covington's just the guy. When you throw his rich drawl into this message of pining for the past, as he does on his new single "I Want My Life Back," it sounds so heartfelt that I can hear the yearning in his voice. He seems to have really mastered that throaty Kid Rock sound on this latest tune. Plus, any time you open a story with a guy who has holes in his shoes and is pouring whiskey in his coffee, it is hard to resist.

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Three bona fide country videos, along with an Americana-country hybrid, showed up and threw themselves on the mercy of the CMT New Video Evaluation Team this week. There are pickup trucks in three of these four videos, and there would have been one in the fourth, if it didn't consist entirely of stage performance footage.

Artist: Billy Ray Cyrus
Video: "Back to Tennessee"
Director: Declan Whitebloom

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As Brent Keith made his way out to judges Simon, Paula, Kara and Randy, to try his shot at becoming the next American Idol, I thought he looked rather familiar. As I sat there watching his audition, I tried to figure out where I had seen his face and heard his voice. Then it hit me. This handsome young man had performed on Unplugged at Studio 330 a couple of years ago around the same time CMT released Dale, its movie about legendary racecar driver Dale Earnhardt. Keith sang the theme song, "Looking for a Road." But I hadn't heard anything more from Keith until now. Already, he's paved his way through the grueling weeks of Hollywood and has become one of American Idol's top 36 contestants for season eight. This opportunity has surely faired well for other country AI contestants who've gone on to pursue country music like Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington to name a few. Tonight we'll find out if his Tuesday night (Feb. 17) performance of Jason Aldean's "Hicktown" is enough to keep him in the competition. Perhaps Brent Keith has finally found the road he's been searching for all along.

I've heard Kenny Chesney do Conway Twitty. Dierks Bentley do Johnny Cash. Miranda Lambert do Steve Earle. Darius Rucker do Hank Williams Jr. Tim McGraw do David Allan Coe. And Luke Bryan do John Anderson. And I love when country stars cover other country stars, much more so than, say, Martina McBride doing a Journey song or Joe Nichols trying to pull off Nickelback's "Rockstar. " But all those country singers getting covered have legend cred. They're seasoned artists who've been around long enough to earn a spot in a newer artist's set list. But lately, I've been noticing very current, very contemporary artists getting covered.

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All I have to hear is a little piano and then "we were 18, it was prom night" and my inner voice screams, "Ohmygodilovethissong." And then I turn the volume from soft to a full-on blare in about two seconds. That's because "I'll Walk," Bucky Covington's newest single, is my newest turn-it-up song.

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