'Idol' finalist Bucky Covington headlines 63rd fair

Country music singer and former "American Idol" contestant Bucky Covington is the main musical act at this year's Navajo Nation Fair, performing Friday, Sept. 11, after the rodeo at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena.

"I'm looking forward to coming out and performing for you all," Covington said in a telephone interview from Grand Junction, Colo., where he stopped on tour Sept. 3. "I'm looking to have a good time playing music for you."

Covington is a rising star who has performed throughout the country, on international tour with the USO, and has a single, "I Want My Life Back," from his forthcoming second album now in the top 40 on country music radio.

"We play his music and as far as we can tell his songs are popular all over the nation," said Ted Foster, program director for KGLX radio in Gallup.

The "American Idol" exposure brought Covington to the attention of Mark Miller, a music producer and vocalist for Sawyer Brown, according to a statement on Covington's Myspace page.

"There was a quality in his voice that was honest," Miller said. "I believed him when he sang."

Miller approached the young singer from Rockingham, N.C., and their collaboration led to a deal on Lyric Street Records.

They worked together on Covington's self-titled debut album, which debuted in 2007 at No. 1 on the Billboard chart - the highest of any new male country vocalist in 15 years.

It also produced three hit singles, including "A Different World," which showcased Covington's voice, described by music critics as "throaty" and "gravelly," and reflected his country music influences dating back to the mid-'80s.

"When Sawyer Brown was going on up from the '80s through the early '90s, that's my influence," Covington said in his strong east Carolina drawl. "That's when I was a kid and when I turned on the radio that's what I heard. I'm sure that's how those influences got in there."

Speaking of his current tour, which takes him from Chicago to Window Rock and back to Pennsylvania in this week alone, he said, "Man, we're doing awesome. We're bouncing around all over like a ping-pong ball.

Last week he was just down the road from Sarah Palin's house, playing the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, an experience he called "absolutely breathtaking."

"Alaska is the 49th state that I've performed in and I got to tell you it was worth waiting for because Alaska is beautiful," he said. "If you ever get a chance to come to Alaska around July-August, it's the ideal time to go because it's just magnificent."

As much as he's enjoying his rapid rise to stardom, being on the road is tough, Covington, who turns 22 on Nov. 8, acknowledged.

"I got on the redeye plane at midnight after the show in Alaska and I woke up in California, so I'm a little bit 'Where am I at right now?'" he said.

"So to all those people that thought I knew what I doing, I do apologize for not knowing where I was at that particular time," he chuckled. "It won't happen again."

If you see Covington's show Friday, you may feel like you're the one seeing things, but don't worry - that's just his twin brother, Rocky, on drums.

The show is scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for children and seniors, and can be purchased in advance through the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department and online at www.navajonationfair.com.

Information: 928-871-6647, www.navajonationfair.com, www.buckycovington.musiccitynetworks.com, or www.myspace.com/buckycovington.

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