Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Bucky Covington broke a three-year album drought this week, releasing “Happy Man.”

Checking in at six tracks in length, its more EP than album, and it’s Bucky’s first as an independent artist.

After finishing eighth on Season 5 of American Idol, Bucky released a highly successful self-titled debut album in 2007.

His only full album since, “Good Guys,” was released in September 2012.

In a recent interview, Bucky said he’s very excited about the new project.

“Feel Ya,” the EPs opening track, is the lead single. Other highlights include a ballad called “Somewhere Looking Beautiful” and a pair of pop-country tunes, “Girl You Get to Me” and “Buzzin’.”

“The new music that’s out today is absolutely wonderful,” Bucky says in an interview you can hear on his Facebook page. “I like the direction country’s going.

“But I also have a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘Why don’t you put out some of that old country?’ So we put some of that out as well. We’ve got a song called ‘Happy Man’ that is a very old-timey sounding song. Plus we got the new single, which I think is just a great mood song. It’s the perfect song for summer.”

Bucky previously said one of his favorites is another ballad called “I’m Saying Something,” written by Matt Warren.

Bucky, now 37, has a bunch of tour dates scheduled, which you can check out on his website. Local fans might want to catch him at the Schuylkill County Fair later this month.

Here’s “Somewhere Looking Beautiful,” a song Bucky co-wrote.