Bucky Covington

Like the narrator of “The Bible and the Belt,” a paean to Southern-style child rearing, American Idol contestant Bucky Covington is the product of two opposing worlds: hard rock and modern country. He can muster an Axl Rose-worthy rasp (“Ain’t No Thing”) or a gentle, honeyed croon (“I’ll Walk”) depending on what his material demands. Produced by Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown (the country hitmakers whose career also began on another TV talent show, Star Search), Bucky Covington resounds with the confidence of someone who has found his niche. A native of Rockingham, North Carolina, Covington’s small town roots run throughout his debut record. From the thrill of a football game (“Friday Night Lights”) to walks on the train tracks with church bells in the distance (“Hometown”), the atmosphere of small-town America is all over Bucky Covington. Even as his hard rock grit pushes classic country into a modern setting, the album frequently finds the thirty-year-old singer longing for a simpler, bygone vision of America. A place where, as he sings in “A Different World,” there was “No video games and no satellite / All we had were friends and they were outside,” and people didn’t drink “bottled water, we drank from a garden hose / And every Sunday, all the stores were closed.”