I wish I could say the name was born simply in thought, but truth be known it started as a wifi password on a router at our venue. This was a phrase I always thought would be a cool name for a music group…
Fast forward many years.
When my father became ill with COVID in July of 2021, I gathered a sketchbook and materials for him to possibly sketch while at the hospital. He was a brilliant artist both musically and on paper. My dad passed from COVID and weeks later after his passing I remembered opening the bag of materials to find them untouched and the cover of the book encompassing a scientific drawing of a bird. A detail I had never noticed.
During this time I also started finding feathers at very specific times and locations where I was either missing or in deep thought about my father. So many, that I even included a painting of a bird by a member of the group, Mark Nesmith, on the back of my third album.
I released the album with the artwork in 2022 to symbolize these findings as the phrase Rustic Bird kept playing in my head. Something was calling me back to my bluegrass roots and I’m pretty sure it was the voice of a Kentucky bluebird. To say I had questioned my existence as a writer and musician when my dad passed would be an understatement. Thoughts of, “was I just groomed to carry this torch” and “was I just trying to win his approval” cycled my grief-filled brain daily.
Over the next 12 months, I would continue to find feathers. All sorts and in all sorts of locations. In June of 2022, I remember arriving in Amarillo on my way to Colorado talking on the phone to my mom and speaking about my father while walking into a restaurant, and lo and behold, a feather. And many accounts just like this. Upon arriving in Colorado a perfect stranger greeted me by calling me “feather girl”. She didn’t know me. Nor I her. I asked her if she had said what I thought she said and she said “yes, it just seemed to fit.” Later that month I hosted a musician who upon leaving, I noticed he had two tattoos on his forearm. A magnolia and a feather. It caught my eye as magnolias are also symbolic of my father. He planted that tree for my oldest daughter and he is also buried beneath a magnolia tree in Magnolia Cemetery.
When I asked about the magnolia and feather, the musician said, “yes, a magnolia and a quill.” It was in that moment I realized the feathers from heaven for the last 11 months weren’t feathers at all, but quills. A sign that I needed to remember my gift of writing. Or at least that’s what my heart convinced my mind to see.
My last concert in the first year without my dad was at the Redbird listening room in New Braunfels, Texas. Just three days prior to the anniversary of my dad’s passing the Redbird show was truly the culmination of all things life, death, remembrance, and hope for the future and Rustic Bird was officially born.
Band Members:
Courtney Hale Revia: Vocals and Guitar
Mark Nesmith: Guitar and Artist Behind the Logo
Zach Edd: Bass
Southpaw Smitty: Mandolin
I wish I could say the name was born simply in thought, but truth be known it started as a wifi password on a router at our venue. This was a phrase I always thought would be a cool name for a music group…
Fast forward many years.
When my father became ill with COVID in July of 2021, I gathered a sketchbook and materials for him to possibly sketch while at the hospital. He was a brilliant artist both musically and on paper. My dad passed from COVID and weeks later after his passing I remembered opening the bag of materials to find them untouched and the cover of the book encompassing a scientific drawing of a bird. A detail I had never noticed.
During this time I also started finding feathers at very specific times and locations where I was either missing or in deep thought about my father. So many, that I even included a painting of a bird by a member of the group, Mark Nesmith, on the back of my third album.
I released the album with the artwork in 2022 to symbolize these findings as the phrase Rustic Bird kept playing in my head. Something was calling me back to my bluegrass roots and I’m pretty sure it was the voice of a Kentucky bluebird. To say I had questioned my existence as a writer and musician when my dad passed would be an understatement. Thoughts of, “was I just groomed to carry this torch” and “was I just trying to win his approval” cycled my grief-filled brain daily.
Over the next 12 months, I would continue to find feathers. All sorts and in all sorts of locations. In June of 2022, I remember arriving in Amarillo on my way to Colorado talking on the phone to my mom and speaking about my father while walking into a restaurant, and lo and behold, a feather. And many accounts just like this. Upon arriving in Colorado a perfect stranger greeted me by calling me “feather girl”. She didn’t know me. Nor I her. I asked her if she had said what I thought she said and she said “yes, it just seemed to fit.” Later that month I hosted a musician who upon leaving, I noticed he had two tattoos on his forearm. A magnolia and a feather. It caught my eye as magnolias are also symbolic of my father. He planted that tree for my oldest daughter and he is also buried beneath a magnolia tree in Magnolia Cemetery.
When I asked about the magnolia and feather, the musician said, “yes, a magnolia and a quill.” It was in that moment I realized the feathers from heaven for the last 11 months weren’t feathers at all, but quills. A sign that I needed to remember my gift of writing. Or at least that’s what my heart convinced my mind to see.
My last concert in the first year without my dad was at the Redbird listening room in New Braunfels, Texas. Just three days prior to the anniversary of my dad’s passing the Redbird show was truly the culmination of all things life, death, remembrance, and hope for the future and Rustic Bird was officially born.
Band Members:
Courtney Hale Revia: Vocals and Guitar
Mark Nesmith: Guitar and Artist Behind the Logo
Zach Edd: Bass
Southpaw Smitty: Mandolin
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