Season 5 finalist Bucky Covington is performing a hometown concert for charity this month. We caught up with Bucky to find out more about his return to Rockingham, Backpack Pals, his sophomore album, and more.

Bucky is excited to return to his hometown of Rockingham, North Carolina to play a concert for the first time in Rockingham since he appeared on American Idol. "I played in the Rockingham area for 10 years," Bucky said. "When I went back home after American Idol, it was an awesome feeling, but I hadn't felt like I had accomplished what I wanted yet. I got straight to work and released my first album, music video, and I even had three top 10 hits." One of the things Bucky is most looking forward to is seeing his friends and family. "When I perform, I can normally only see the first five rows due to the bright lights, but I rarely know anyone in the first five rows. I can't wait to look out into the first few rows in Rockingham and see people I know. It will be distracting, but it will be great. My twin Rocky is in the band with us on back-up vocals and percussion, and I can't wait to show him off. My best friend is also in the band and I look forward to showing him off too. These are very exciting times, and we're filming the hometown concert too, which is a plus."

Rockingham concert attendees are encourage to bring a non-perishable food item donation to the free concert to benefit the Backpack Pals outreach program. Bucky calls Backpack Pals "a very cool thing. It was hard to just hand pick one charity to support. I went on a USO tour to sing for the troops, and that was great. When I was on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? I played for the Arthritis Foundation which I contribute to a lot because my mom was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was young. Backpack Pals is a great organization. I didn't grow up with a lot of money, but we had food, water, and power. For kids who don't have that, it can be embarrassing for the kids and their parents. With Backpack Pals, people can pick up the food incognito to avoid the humiliation that can come with waiting in a line for food donations."

Bucky's new single, "Gotta Be Somebody," is a cover of the Nickelback song. When Bucky was in Albany, New York on the American Idols LIVE! 2006 concert tour, he saw lead singer Chad Kroeger sitting in the hotel bar. Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, and Bucky decided to talk to him and ended up going to one of his shows. "I was in a rock band for 10 years. I love the energy of rock, but I love country music. My record producer suggested "Gotta Be Somebody" but I was hesitant because everything Nickelback puts out is so successful and I wasn't sure how people would respond to a cover of the hit. I love the song, so I gave it my all and the producer helped make it amazing. I love it. I'm very happy. It's great!"

I'm Alright is Bucky's sophomore album, and the titular song is Bucky's favorite off the album. "It's straight country. It is an old school song over an acoustic guitar, and the song is about a break-up. My producer has been working with me on getting rid of my Southern accent, but for this song, he had me forget everything I was taught. I absolutely love this song."

MyIdol member Ogopogo wanted to know what Bucky found to be different between recording the first CD and his sophomore CD in terms of song choice and the recording studio process. Bucky said, "That's a very, very good question. A lot was the same in terms of song selection. The hard thing about working on a second album is that I'm so proud of the first album, so it's very scary to have the pressure to top the first album. It was a nail-biting process. For the first album, we had nothing to compare it to. I know so much more about music now."

The Season 8 American Idols LIVE! 2009 tour just ended last week. We wanted to know if Bucky had any advice for the Top 10 who are now going their separate ways. "The biggest piece of advice I got when I was on Idol was from a man named Joe at 19 Entertainment who said that we've all been so busy with American Idol, that we'll be tempted to just go home and chill. Although I wanted to so much, I stayed hungry and I went out there in the music world. I now know how hard it is to keep my name out there. There's no more hand-holding after American Idol, so the Idols need to be ambitious." Although he parted ways with his tour mates three years ago, Bucky still keeps in touch with his fellow Season 5 finalists including Taylor Hicks, Elliott Yamin, Kellie Pickler, and Chris Daughtry.

To Bucky's fans he'd like to say, "Thank you so much. Thanks to each and every one of you. I couldn't do this without you. Keep asking for more!"

Read more about Bucky's hometown concert.