2008 Woodie Awards
Country Rock Innovation: Ribbonpigeon
Laura Raines
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Features
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With their soulful sound and upbeat energy, it's easy to see why these intelligent and talented musicians are on the fast track to success. The guys of Ribbonpigeon, like all bands, are looking to catch a break in the music industry.
The thing about them, though, is they stand a very strong chance.
In the beginning, there were three members - Goolsby, Blake Loftis and Jonathan Merritt. They met at Cookeville High School where they spent four years in and out of different bands that never seemed to mesh.
When it was time for college, the three decided on MTSU. It was here that they began to collaborate as musicians. And Murfreesboro has a great atmosphere for rising bands, and meeting others with the same passion for music.
"Blake lived in Scarlett Commons with a random roommate who ended up being Mike (Burgess), so that's how we met our fourth member," says Merritt, the band's bassist.
Burgess graduated with a recording industry degree from MTSU and now plays lead guitar and a more unique instrument, lap-steel guitar. Today, he and Loftis live together. Goolsby and Merritt live next door, and this is where the self-taught musicians practice.
"Luckily we have never had any noise complaints from the neighbors," Merritt laughs.
So what about that odd name?
It's the stuff dreams are made of - literally. Goolsby had a dream involving a Nazi prison camp, a headmistress and a nameplate. The rest, as they say, is history.
"The nameplate said Ribbonpigeon and in my mind I thought, 'Oh yeah, of course, that's the name of my band,'" Goolsby says.
RP fans may remember a time when the name Ribbonpigeon applied to just one person instead of the whole band.
"Kent had been writing acoustic songs under the name Ribbonpigeon for quite some time and we decided to try turning a few of them into full-band songs," Merritt says. "It all just fell together perfectly."
This summer proved just how perfect the four are together.
Ribbonpigeon, along with a cameraman, drove up the east coast in a Yukon for their four-city tour. Those cities were Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington D.C. As their blog reads, they stayed with some amazingly gracious people who put them up for a couple of nights at a time.
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