The Bucky Diaries: Installment #2
Here it is, the second installment of Bucky Covington's exclusive post-Idol diary, long but informative:
It was very exciting to see everybody's response to my first blog entry. I hope you guys realize how much help it is and how great it looks when you go to these websites or listen to my radio interviews on the Internet. I couldn't do all this without you, so thanks for your help.
I just had dinner with a very big guy in radio, Coyote Calhoun, the program director at WAMZ in Louisville. When we went out to dinner, he said that after my on-air interview that afternoon he had more e-mail comments about me than he had ever seen before. I can't tell you how much that means to me. It's priceless.
We're still out doing a lot of radio interviews, getting ready for my album to come out on April 17. We've been hitting the Midwest and North regions recently, going everywhere from Wisconsin to Kentucky.
Sometimes, we'll do these American Idol viewing parties. I'll go up and play for 30 minutes or so, then I'll sign autographs and take pictures. It's neat, because everybody will watch the show and every time it goes to commercials, they've all got questions like "What it's like backstage?" It's neat being able to tell people how it goes.
Of course, I always get asked, "Who's your favorite judge?" It's just my personal opinion, but I listened to Randy Jackson the most, because he's been there and worked with all styles of music — country, pop, rock, whatever. He's produced, played bass. He's done it all.
Paula's a complete sweetheart — I love her to death. And Simon is an excellent TV personality. Sometimes he can give you constructive criticism, but sometimes he says things just to get the viewers. And thank God he does. A lot of people tuned it to see Simon and, because they did, they saw us.
People also ask, "Can you just sing any song you want to sing?" I tell them you have to have something that'll clear. They they ask, "What does that mean, 'have it clear'?" It means that whoever has the publishing rights to the song –- the writer, maybe, or the music publisher -– has to approve the song for us to use it. If they clear it, that means we can sing the song on the show; if they tell us we can't use it, the song didn't clear, and we have to pick something else.
The first audition you go to, there are no rules you follow. You just sing whatever you want to. If the song doesn’t clear, they just won't air it, because they've got so much to show. But by the time you get to Hollywood, your songs have to clear.
For instance, I really wanted to do Turn the Page by Bob Seger. I've always loved that song. But when it didn't clear I think I ended up doing The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks. Either that or Pat Green's Wave on Wave.
I was down in Texas not long ago, and a fan came up and told me that, after I sang Wave on Wave on Idol, he went to one of Pat's concerts, like a big rodeo down there with 70,000 people or something, and Pat got on stage and went, "What about this Bucky Covington on American Idol who sang my song?" He said, "You all give him a hand and everybody vote for him." That was a stand-up move, so a big thank-you to Pat for that one.
Watching the show this year, I'm finally starting to pick up on the importance of song selection. People always tell you, "You've got to have good song selection." The whole time I was on the show, I just didn't get it. But some songs suit your voice better than others. And, a lot of times, other people can tell you what song is better because it’s sometimes hard to say yourself.
Sometimes you can sing one part of a song really good, but there's this one part where you just go up and kill the note. If you can't go up there and be at least as good as whoever sang it originally, I would steer away from it, personally.
One of the girls this year –- and I can't remember her name –- sang one of those pitchy songs. She sang it right, but you couldn't quite put your finger on where it should be. That's when I finally started to understand what people are talking about when they say song selection is important.
This week, we've got the Country Radio Seminar, where a bunch of radio people come to Nashville. I'll be going to a bunch of dinners and a lot of interviews and doing a couple of performances. I’ll also do my first public show in Nashville. It’s Thursday night at the Wildhorse Saloon for the radio guys and some contest winners. I'll sing A Different World and Hometown. I'll probably do one cover –- Elvis’ Suspicious Minds seems to get good response live. The other songs are up in the air. My manager and producer want me to do one of the new ones we just recorded, Ain't No Thang. It's pretty turned-up.
Until next week, you just keep on doing what you're doing. Everything is because of you. Like I said before, I don't know how to thank you enough for all your support. See you next week!
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