Woody Platt

Brings The Culture of the Mountains of Western North Carolina to the World

Photos By Bryce Lafoon

Before Woody Platt officially left the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2022, some hard inter-band conversations had to happen. 

The Steep Canyon Rangers formed down in the Piedmont of North Carolina where everyone in the original lineup was in college. The group rose from being considered a little rough around the edges at first to becoming a premier band on the bluegrass scene years later. They would also make history when they combined forces with the legendary actor, playwright and musician Steve Martin, who hired the group to be his touring band after their musical connection, friendship and mutual trust with each other was solidified.

Life on the road, however, is rough, especially if you have kids at home. There have been many successful musicians who have come off the road after seeing the look in their kid’s eyes as they walked out the door yet again, scheduled to be gone for weeks if not months at a time. Platt faced a similar reality.

“The break during the COVID crisis gave me a different taste of life, especially after being on the road since I had graduated from college,” said Platt. “The Steep Canyon Rangers were non-stop as band, really, as we were home some yet also gone a lot. So, I got a good taste of what it was like to be home with my wife Shannon during the pandemic. And, we have a young son as well, and it felt good to spend more time with him while getting back in the trout streams again and doing the other things that mean so much to me. When I got back on the road after COVID, I realized that as much as I love the music that we were making and love my band members and the positive experiences that came from touring; I also love where I am from in the mountains and being home.”
Platt grew up in Western North Carolina, surrounded by the beautiful ‘tallest mountains east of the Rockies’  that inhabit this part of the world. His home in Transylvania County is also known for having over 1,000 waterfalls within its borders. Trout streams and amazing views and nature at its best have been a part of Platt’s life since he was very young, so he made the move to come off of the road to reconnect.

Still, once the decision was made, Platt had to step up and tell his band mates that a change was coming, and that was no easy task.

“I told them individually, one at a time.” said Platt. “I told Graham first backstage, up on the tour bus. We were playing in Atlanta with Steve Martin and I went out to the bus and got really emotional and I told him about what I was thinking, and he supported me and my decision, and they all supported me with my process. It wasn’t like it was anything personal with them, nor was it about any issues that I had with being in the band. When I told them all the news, it was a big deal as the band was successful as we were working with Steve and Martin Short and making very good records. But, my son was about seven years old at that time and it just seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted to be home, and I wanted to play some music with my wife Shannon, which we are doing, and eventually I decided to make my own bluegrass record.”

Platt distinctly remembers that first Steep Canyon Rangers tour run when they got on the bus without him.

“That was hard,” said Platt. “But honestly, I thought it would be weird if it wasn’t hard and emotional for me after 23 years. We built the band up from scratch and travelled around in a van and then in a motorhome, and then we bought a tour bus and things were going good. I was really involved in the business side of the band and I loved all of that stuff as well. It still gives me a certain feeling, as I still get Steep Canyon emails about what they are doing now. I am just happy that they are doing great and I am doing great, especially because they brought Aaron Burdett into the group after I left as he is a super talented guy and vocalist and songwriter and he made sense as a replacement.”     

Many will remember Platt’s wife Shannon Whitworth from her time playing and recording with the Biscuit Burners back in the day, her well-received solo albums as well as her art, all of which can be experienced at www.shannonwhitworth.com.

As for Platt’s new solo album Far Away With You, it is a labor of love that features the guitarist and vocalist collaborating with many of his heroes and his friends. 

The core band that Platt went into the studio with includes Bennett Sullivan on the banjo, Casey Driessen on the fiddle, Barry Bales on bass and Daren Shumaker on mandolin. 

The guest musicians on this project include Del McCoury, who duets with Platt on Blind Willie McTell’s “Broke Down Engine,” Tim O’Brien, who sings on “Toe The Line,” Darrell Scott, featured on “Beautiful War,” Shannon Whitworth performs with her husband on “Off To The Sea,” and Buddy Melton steps up to sing with Platt on the cut “One Last Goodbye,” written by Barry Bales and Chris Stapleton.

Other guests on the project include Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Jason Carter, Bryan Sutton and Rob McCoury.  

“Buddy Melton of Balsam Range called me one day and said, ‘Woody, you’ve never made a solo recording and I think it would be cool if you did a Woody Platt single. I’ve been making and releasing these singles with Milan Miller and they have worked out good,’” said Platt. “I said, ‘Nobody has ever asked me to do that, and that idea sounds great.’ That is when Buddy found that great song written by Barry Bales and Chris Stapleton called ‘One Last Goodbye.’ He sent it to me and I loved it and we cut it with Rob McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Jason Carter and Daren Shumaker along with Buddy and myself. It did great on the bluegrass charts, and after I left the Rangers, I booked some more dates in the studio and I thought, ‘I need to just go ahead and make an album.’”

  Soon the hunt was on to find more high-quality compositions.

   “I found some really good songs written by local, talented songwriters based here in Bevard, North Carolina, that are not yet on the national stage,” said Platt. “The songs are great and I wanted to source them as locally as I could, so there are three or four of them from here in town that are on this album. I also got a great song from my wife Shannon, and I wrote one as well. I also grabbed up that old blues song that I heard Bob Dylan sing, and I also went back to songs that have stayed in my head over the years.  I would record two or three tracks and then take some time off, so it was a slow but fun process. Eventually, I called Alison Brown and Gary West at Compass Records and asked them if they were interested in releasing it and they were fully willing to get onboard. Overall, it was a very organic and joyful experience.”      

   Now that Platt has moved forward, when you look back on his career, the question beckons, as in, ‘What did you learn from performing next to a true legend in Steve Martin?”   

“I worked in the band with Steve Martin for a decade and what an experience it was,” said Platt. “During that time, I got to see the highest levels of show business. We did late night TV shows and played at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl. As it turns out, I had guided Steve’s wife on a trout fishing trip before they were married, and that was sort of how we all became connected. When she came back up to the Western North Carolina Mountains with Steve, she basically called me one day and said, ‘Steve is wanting to pick some bluegrass with some pickers.’ So, myself and mandolin player and Rangers band mate Mike Guggino rode up there for dinner, and then we had a jam and it went great. It was a fun time and very natural. Then, we started communicating after that night and one thing led to another. He played with us in Brevard one night and at our Mountain Song Festival and at a Rangers gig up in New York. When Steve put his album out called The Crow, his team called us and said that he wanted the Steep Canyon Rangers to be his touring band, and we jumped all over it.”

From there, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers toured together and recorded together for over ten years. The one thing that Platt learned about Martin was he was serious about putting on a good show and he did not phone it in, ever.

“One thing that I’ve always said about Steve was that even with his reputation and experience as an already established star, he worked as hard as we did to make sure that the show and the songs and the creativity was the most important thing,” said Platt. “We would practice every song before every show. It was exactly what you think about when you think about work ethic, as in when you stay committed and focused. 

“Steve is definitely brilliantly funny,” continues Platt. “But, when we had comedy bits to work out with him, we practiced them. We didn’t just glaze over them; we practiced the comedy bits while in character. So, that whole experience of touring and working with Steve was great. When you think about the spotlight that he put on the Rangers and how that contributed to the success of us as a band, that also happened with each band member individually. Part of the reason that I have had some solo success and why I’m able to do some things on my own is not only due to my time with the Rangers, but also a benefit of my time with the Rangers and Steve Martin.”

On the other end of the music business, Platt and his business partner John Felty, who run the Mountain Song Productions company, were the ones to reach out to Béla Fleck about producing a new Banjo Camp in Brevard. After the massive success of that event, Bryan Sutton and Casey Driessen soon followed with their now-annual Guitar Camp and Fiddle Camp as well, respectively, all hosted at the Brevard Music Center. 

Platt and Felty also produce the Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, which will be celebrating its 19^th year in September of 2025. The goal of the festival is to encourage young musicians in their journey and to bring attention to the amazing region found in and surrounding Transylvania County. As with all past years, the Steep Canyon Rangers will once again be the event’s official house band.

The festival was also created to help fund the Cindy Platt Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County. The mission of organization is to “enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. We are more than an after school program, we are a youth development organization serving school-aged youth ages 5 to 18 years old.”

The work of that charity, and of many others, is as important as ever as on September 27, 2024, Transylvania County and a wide swath of Western North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. 

“What is special about the Mountain Song Festival is that it happens in my home community and that it is also a fundraiser for the Cindy Platt Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County, which was named after my Mom and her legacy of helping out the area’s youth before she died over a decade ago.”

Cindy Platt was also known for being a Brevard City Council Member, an advocate of the arts and an overall community leader before passing away unexpectedly in 2013. 

As for this recent Hurricane Helene disaster, and while their house was spared, Platt and family saw the damage up close and they have been a part of the massive recovery and relief efforts since the hours after it passed through. 

“The day before the storm hit, I went out and began to clear some river channels because I heard that we were going to get a lot of rain,” said Platt. “I also helped a few people cut some log jams out of some of the nearby trout streams, hoping we wouldn’t get too much downpour. But, the rivers already had banks full of water in them from the first storm that went through our region before we got the full 35 inches of rain from Hurricane Helene. The next day, when we experienced the power outages and then, because we live on the river, we saw the water rise to levels that we had never seen before in history here, we knew it was bad. But I wasn’t really able to understand the impact of this storm on our area until I ventured out after the storm hit and found a way to connect to the internet. That is when I learned that the whole world was looking in on us and how bad the devastation really was all around us.”

The relief and recover efforts continue, and Platt has already seen many streams, creeks and rivers that have been forever physically altered by the power of the 2024 flood. Just like most musicians in Western North Carolina, he has performed at various benefit concerts and is looking forward to a day when his native Brevard is back to normal.

“I’ve been a fishing guide ever since I was a kid,” said Platt. “So, I look forward to once again taking folks out fly fishing trips and then having a dinner and then bringing in some local picking buddies to play some bluegrass to give folks a full experience.”

Meanwhile, Platt will be playing some select dates with his wife Shannon Whitworth as well as with the newly-formed group known as Woody Platt and the Bluegrass Gentlemen. Consisting of Platt on guitar and vocals along with Casey Driessen on fiddle, Buddy Melton on upright bass and vocals, Daren Shumaker on mandolin and Bennett Sullivan on the banjo, the band has already appeared on the lineup poster for the next MerleFest festival, where they will play for two days in a row in April of 2025. Other shows will also be announced soon.

For more information, please go to  www.woodyplatt.com and  www.mountainsongfestival.com. Before Woody Platt officially left the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2022, some hard inter-band conversations had to happen. 

The Steep Canyon Rangers formed down in the Piedmont of North Carolina where everyone in the original lineup was in college. The group rose from being considered a little rough around the edges at first to becoming a premier band on the bluegrass scene years later. They would also make history when they combined forces with the legendary actor, playwright and musician Steve Martin, who hired the group to be his touring band after their musical connection, friendship and mutual trust with each other was solidified.

Life on the road, however, is rough, especially if you have kids at home. There have been many successful musicians who have come off the road after seeing the look in their kid’s eyes as they walked out the door yet again, scheduled to be gone for weeks if not months at a time. Platt faced a similar reality.

“The break during the COVID crisis gave me a different taste of life, especially after being on the road since I had graduated from college,” said Platt. “The Steep Canyon Rangers were non-stop as band, really, as we were home some yet also gone a lot. So, I got a good taste of what it was like to be home with my wife Shannon during the pandemic. And, we have a young son as well, and it felt good to spend more time with him while getting back in the trout streams again and doing the other things that mean so much to me. When I got back on the road after COVID, I realized that as much as I love the music that we were making and love my band members and the positive experiences that came from touring; I also love where I am from in the mountains and being home.”
Platt grew up in Western North Carolina, surrounded by the beautiful ‘tallest mountains east of the Rockies’  that inhabit this part of the world. His home in Transylvania County is also known for having over 1,000 waterfalls within its borders. Trout streams and amazing views and nature at its best have been a part of Platt’s life since he was very young, so he made the move to come off of the road to reconnect.

Still, once the decision was made, Platt had to step up and tell his band mates that a change was coming, and that was no easy task.

“I told them individually, one at a time.” said Platt. “I told Graham first backstage, up on the tour bus. We were playing in Atlanta with Steve Martin and I went out to the bus and got really emotional and I told him about what I was thinking, and he supported me and my decision, and they all supported me with my process. It wasn’t like it was anything personal with them, nor was it about any issues that I had with being in the band. When I told them all the news, it was a big deal as the band was successful as we were working with Steve and Martin Short and making very good records. But, my son was about seven years old at that time and it just seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted to be home, and I wanted to play some music with my wife Shannon, which we are doing, and eventually I decided to make my own bluegrass record.”

Platt distinctly remembers that first Steep Canyon Rangers tour run when they got on the bus without him.

“That was hard,” said Platt. “But honestly, I thought it would be weird if it wasn’t hard and emotional for me after 23 years. We built the band up from scratch and travelled around in a van and then in a motorhome, and then we bought a tour bus and things were going good. I was really involved in the business side of the band and I loved all of that stuff as well. It still gives me a certain feeling, as I still get Steep Canyon emails about what they are doing now. I am just happy that they are doing great and I am doing great, especially because they brought Aaron Burdett into the group after I left as he is a super talented guy and vocalist and songwriter and he made sense as a replacement.”     

Many will remember Platt’s wife Shannon Whitworth from her time playing and recording with the Biscuit Burners back in the day, her well-received solo albums as well as her art, all of which can be experienced at www.shannonwhitworth.com.

As for Platt’s new solo album Far Away With You, it is a labor of love that features the guitarist and vocalist collaborating with many of his heroes and his friends. 

The core band that Platt went into the studio with includes Bennett Sullivan on the banjo, Casey Driessen on the fiddle, Barry Bales on bass and Daren Shumaker on mandolin. 

The guest musicians on this project include Del McCoury, who duets with Platt on Blind Willie McTell’s “Broke Down Engine,” Tim O’Brien, who sings on “Toe The Line,” Darrell Scott, featured on “Beautiful War,” Shannon Whitworth performs with her husband on “Off To The Sea,” and Buddy Melton steps up to sing with Platt on the cut “One Last Goodbye,” written by Barry Bales and Chris Stapleton.

Other guests on the project include Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Jason Carter, Bryan Sutton and Rob McCoury.  

“Buddy Melton of Balsam Range called me one day and said, ‘Woody, you’ve never made a solo recording and I think it would be cool if you did a Woody Platt single. I’ve been making and releasing these singles with Milan Miller and they have worked out good,’” said Platt. “I said, ‘Nobody has ever asked me to do that, and that idea sounds great.’ That is when Buddy found that great song written by Barry Bales and Chris Stapleton called ‘One Last Goodbye.’ He sent it to me and I loved it and we cut it with Rob McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Jason Carter and Daren Shumaker along with Buddy and myself. It did great on the bluegrass charts, and after I left the Rangers, I booked some more dates in the studio and I thought, ‘I need to just go ahead and make an album.’”

  Soon the hunt was on to find more high-quality compositions.

   “I found some really good songs written by local, talented songwriters based here in Bevard, North Carolina, that are not yet on the national stage,” said Platt. “The songs are great and I wanted to source them as locally as I could, so there are three or four of them from here in town that are on this album. I also got a great song from my wife Shannon, and I wrote one as well. I also grabbed up that old blues song that I heard Bob Dylan sing, and I also went back to songs that have stayed in my head over the years.  I would record two or three tracks and then take some time off, so it was a slow but fun process. Eventually, I called Alison Brown and Gary West at Compass Records and asked them if they were interested in releasing it and they were fully willing to get onboard. Overall, it was a very organic and joyful experience.”      

   Now that Platt has moved forward, when you look back on his career, the question beckons, as in, ‘What did you learn from performing next to a true legend in Steve Martin?”   

   “I worked in the band with Steve Martin for a decade and what an experience it was,” said Platt. “During that time, I got to see the highest levels of show business. We did late night TV shows and played at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl. As it turns out, I had guided Steve’s wife on a trout fishing trip before they were married, and that was sort of how we all became connected. When she came back up to the Western North Carolina Mountains with Steve, she basically called me one day and said, ‘Steve is wanting to pick some bluegrass with some pickers.’ So, myself and mandolin player and Rangers band mate Mike Guggino rode up there for dinner, and then we had a jam and it went great. It was a fun time and very natural. Then, we started communicating after that night and one thing led to another. He played with us in Brevard one night and at our Mountain Song Festival and at a Rangers gig up in New York. When Steve put his album out called The Crow, his team called us and said that he wanted the Steep Canyon Rangers to be his touring band, and we jumped all over it.”

From there, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers toured together and recorded together for over ten years. The one thing that Platt learned about Martin was he was serious about putting on a good show and he did not phone it in, ever.

“One thing that I’ve always said about Steve was that even with his reputation and experience as an already established star, he worked as hard as we did to make sure that the show and the songs and the creativity was the most important thing,” said Platt. “We would practice every song before every show. It was exactly what you think about when you think about work ethic, as in when you stay committed and focused. 

“Steve is definitely brilliantly funny,” continues Platt. “But, when we had comedy bits to work out with him, we practiced them. We didn’t just glaze over them; we practiced the comedy bits while in character. So, that whole experience of touring and working with Steve was great. When you think about the spotlight that he put on the Rangers and how that contributed to the success of us as a band, that also happened with each band member individually. Part of the reason that I have had some solo success and why I’m able to do some things on my own is not only due to my time with the Rangers, but also a benefit of my time with the Rangers and Steve Martin.”

On the other end of the music business, Platt and his business partner John Felty, who run the Mountain Song Productions company, were the ones to reach out to Béla Fleck about producing a new Banjo Camp in Brevard. After the massive success of that event, Bryan Sutton and Casey Driessen soon followed with their now-annual Guitar Camp and Fiddle Camp as well, respectively, all hosted at the Brevard Music Center. 

Platt and Felty also produce the Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, which will be celebrating its 19^th year in September of 2025. The goal of the festival is to encourage young musicians in their journey and to bring attention to the amazing region found in and surrounding Transylvania County. As with all past years, the Steep Canyon Rangers will once again be the event’s official house band.

The festival was also created to help fund the Cindy Platt Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County. The mission of organization is to “enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. We are more than an after school program, we are a youth development organization serving school-aged youth ages 5 to 18 years old.”

The work of that charity, and of many others, is as important as ever as on September 27, 2024, Transylvania County and a wide swath of Western North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. 

“What is special about the Mountain Song Festival is that it happens in my home community and that it is also a fundraiser for the Cindy Platt Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County, which was named after my Mom and her legacy of helping out the area’s youth before she died over a decade ago.”

Cindy Platt was also known for being a Brevard City Council Member, an advocate of the arts and an overall community leader before passing away unexpectedly in 2013. 

As for this recent Hurricane Helene disaster, and while their house was spared, Platt and family saw the damage up close and they have been a part of the massive recovery and relief efforts since the hours after it passed through. 

“The day before the storm hit, I went out and began to clear some river channels because I heard that we were going to get a lot of rain,” said Platt. “I also helped a few people cut some log jams out of some of the nearby trout streams, hoping we wouldn’t get too much downpour. But, the rivers already had banks full of water in them from the first storm that went through our region before we got the full 35 inches of rain from Hurricane Helene. The next day, when we experienced the power outages and then, because we live on the river, we saw the water rise to levels that we had never seen before in history here, we knew it was bad. But I wasn’t really able to understand the impact of this storm on our area until I ventured out after the storm hit and found a way to connect to the internet. That is when I learned that the whole world was looking in on us and how bad the devastation really was all around us.”

The relief and recover efforts continue, and Platt has already seen many streams, creeks and rivers that have been forever physically altered by the power of the 2024 flood. Just like most musicians in Western North Carolina, he has performed at various benefit concerts and is looking forward to a day when his native Brevard is back to normal.

“I’ve been a fishing guide ever since I was a kid,” said Platt. “So, I look forward to once again taking folks out fly fishing trips and then having a dinner and then bringing in some local picking buddies to play some bluegrass to give folks a full experience.”

Meanwhile, Platt will be playing some select dates with his wife Shannon Whitworth as well as with the newly-formed group known as Woody Platt and the Bluegrass Gentlemen. Consisting of Platt on guitar and vocals along with Casey Driessen on fiddle, Buddy Melton on upright bass and vocals, Daren Shumaker on mandolin and Bennett Sullivan on the banjo, the band has already appeared on the lineup poster for the next MerleFest festival, where they will play for two days in a row in April of 2025. Other shows will also be announced soon.

For more information, please go to  www.woodyplatt.com and  www.mountainsongfestival.com.