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by Cara Beth Lewis

Our county is full of talent, potential, and dreamers, and local band, 87&Pine, most definitely falls in that group. Their new song “Goodbye Carolina” is not a farewell, but a tribute to hometown roots, and Brent Underwood, Dane Goodwin, Chris Howell, and Dustin Varner are the artists behind the music. The video for “Goodbye Carolina” was shot and edited by Tony Murnahan.

Lead singer, Brent Underwood, began his music career when he was 17 years old, and it has been his passion ever since. In 2011, Underwood won North Carolina’s Rock Male of the Year. His dream is, “not to be a rockstar, but to be successful in music and support his family.” Underwood says that this song is a tribute to his relative, Colonel Thomas Robeson, who was a senator and is the namesake of Robeson County.

For Brent Underwood, Bladen County roots run deep. He says, “I really wanted this video to highlight some of what I love most about our county.” In the video, you will see Bridger’s Barbershop, where Underwood and his son, Easton, both got their first haircut by Mr. Bridgers, Melvin’s Hamburgers, where Underwood has ordered the same “hamburger with just chili, heavy” his whole life, Leinwand’s, where he worked his first job, and several more locally-owned businesses. Underwood’s love for his community is obvious as he reminisces his childhood, and shares stories of looking at the “local celebrities” hanging on the wall in Melvin’s, and dreaming of being on that wall himself someday. Underwood shared that to this day, that is still a dream of his.

Lead Guitarist, Dane Goodwin, is also a Bladen County native who comes from a punk rock background, and he feels the same way as Brent about their music. Goodwin says, “My hope for 87&Pine is to reach as broad an audience as possible, and influence as many people as we can, just as long as we stay true to ourselves, our sound, and our art.”

“Goodbye Carolina” was created when Brent called Dane with an idea, and the rest is history. “Brent came to me with his acoustic and strummed a primitive version of the song. I immediately dug the sound, and we cut a demo on my laptop right then and there. Everything kind of fell into place and it was one of those magical moments that you hear about where ‘the song kind of writes itself,’” says Goodwin.

87&Pine recognizes that 2020 has been a hard year for everybody, and their heart goes out specifically to street musicians. The group raised $2,000, thanks to their local supporters, and they purchased two guitars with the money. These guitars were donated to two lucky street artists in Denver and Las Vegas, who were chosen at random and featured in the “Goodbye Carolina” video. Even though 2020 has not been the best year, the band will start 2021 off on a high note, by releasing their new album on January 1st, 2021. According to Dane Goodwin, “2021 is going to be wild.” The album will be available for purchase on all major music platforms, including Apple Music, Prime Music, Spotify, and GooglePlay. And in the words of 87&Pine, “… please commit me to memory.”

Watch the video here: