Covington to perform

Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 8:01 pm

American Idol fans, especially those of Season 5, will not want to miss Saturday’s concert featuring Bucky Covington at KP’s Music Rodeo near Troy.
He will step on the stage around 8 p.m.
Most known for his radio hits including “A Different World,” “It’s Good To Be Us” and “I’ll Walk,” Covington is in the middle of a “Hometown” tour, going around to smaller towns that don’t usually get a chance to have national acts come through. The North Carolina native came from a small town himself and would always hear about concerts coming to larger towns that he wished he had the time or money to attend. He said he wants to connect with the fans that may not have the time or gas money to drive hours to a big town with larger concert venues.
Covington’s upcoming performances include those in Muscle Shoals, Ala., on Friday, Troy on Saturday and Aberdeen, S.D., and Valley City, N.D., March 3-4, respectively. He’ll return to Tennessee in mid-March when he will be in Greenville March 17, Sweetwater March 18 and Huntingdon March 19.
With his first album, Covington earned a place in the forefront of a new generation of country singers. He became the best-selling debut artist of the class of 2007, with the best first-week sales and highest Top 200 debut for any male country artist in 15 years. Now, with his second album, he leaves behind newcomer status and emerges as one of the true standouts in contemporary country music.
“I’ve definitely grown in the past few years,” he says. “I’m a little wiser when it comes to the things around me. I’m more tuned in to the world and what’s going on, and I’m growing as a person. As all of those things affect my life, they’re bound to affect my music.
“Still, the success I’ve had hasn’t changed my basic nature. I’m still a very approachable person.”
The CD’s debut single, “I Want My Life Back” represents Covington at his finest, showcasing a singer bringing true passion to a lyric that offers up a real slice of life as well as a glimpse of hope at a time when it’s needed most.
Covington has been honing his highly identifiable sound since his earliest days growing up with his mother, stepfather and twin brother, Rocky, in Laurinburg, N.C. His tastes in country music ran to George Strait, Travis Tritt and Tim McGraw, and he began testing his own vocal skills with a karaoke machine early on before playing in rock groups and band playing “Southern rock, beach and country.”
Friends encouraged him to try Nashville, but when his sister-in-law told him about tryouts for American Idol, he took that route. His striking look and smoky vocals got him into the final eight and earned him a spot on the Idol tour. Managers and producers began calling him, but it was a call from Sawyer Brown front man Mark Miller that impressed him.  
“A lot of them call you up and talk about the money,” he says. “Mark called me up and talked about music — what kind I wanted to make, what I wanted to do.”
The two have been in musical partnership since then, and it wasn’t long before Lyric Street Records was expressing interest. Two albums into that relationship, he has been embraced fully by country fans.
“I did come off a big TV show,” he says, “and at that point you’re huge. You feel like you’re on top of the world. Then you come back to reality and you’re ‘that guy that used to be…’ After that it’s what you make of it, and after three top 10 hits over the past 2 1/2 years, it’s been amazing to be welcomed so big by country radio and the fans.”

Published in The Messenger 2.23.11