Woody Platt led the Steep Canyon Rangers for 23 years, from the band’s scrappy days touring in a van to their high-profile gig backing Steve Martin.
But after the forced break of the pandemic, Platt didn’t feel the same excitement about returning to the road. His life in Brevard, N.C., with his wife — painter, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shannon Whitworth — his son, and a trout stream just across the field from their farmhouse kept calling him home. So in 2022, he stepped away from the Steep Canyon Rangers.
“I’d invested two decades into the Rangers, and those guys are my best friends,” Platt told the Charleston City Paper. “Fortunately, they’re still doing really well without me, and I’m getting to play a lot more music with Shannon.”
At Brevard’s Mountain Song Festival earlier this month, Platt sat in with his old band, which he said was a therapeutic experience. The next night, a few Rangers joined him and Shannon for their own set. And on Sept. 30, Woody and Shannon bring their new incarnation as a duo to the Charleston Music Hall. It’s the new project’s first show outside of western North Carolina.
But Charleston is Platt’s secondary home turf — his family owns a house on Folly Beach, where they often sequester for quiet weeks by the sea, and Whitworth grew up on Hilton Head. The intermingling of the tide and salty air with the bluegrass of the hills has long guided her songwriting. Whitworth was a familiar name around Charleston in the early 2000s and 2010s, first with the Biscuit Burners and then as a solo artist at early Barn Jams and headlining the Pour House.
Immersed in the arts
She’s spent the last decade raising their son and painting. A dozen of her larger-scale works will be on display in the Music Hall’s mezzanine.
“Touring used to take away from my painting time, but now the two things feed each other,” Whitworth said. Recurring dreams and visions of her Lowcountry childhood are inspiration for her songs and visual works that often overlap in subtle ways.
“There are lyrics and blessings in a lot of the paintings,” she said. “Sometimes you see them, and sometimes it’s less obvious.”
During the Rangers’ busiest years, the guitar and banjo rarely came out around the couple’s home. But their newfound time together has sparked a new creative outlet.
“Now, we play music together because we need it, and we want to,” Whitworth said. “I never thought Woody and I would write together — but then a song comes to me, and I need to flush out a verse, and he’s right there. There’s this whole other act to our relationship that we never pursued. Until now, we just had our separate tastes and careers.”
The couple recorded several songs this summer, with a 2024 release in the works. New songs like “Flow” and “Confluence” — rivers and tides are always top of mind — could make their Charleston debut at the Music Hall.
On stage and in the studio, the duo share the mic with an impressive band of friends: Barry Bales on bass (of Alison Krauss and Union Station), Casey Driessen on fiddle, Daren Shumaker on mandolin and Bennett Sullivan on banjo and pedal steel. Sullivan was recruited after his role in Bright Star, a Broadway musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.
“It’s the most professional, healthy, evolved band I’ve been a part of,” Whitworth said. “These people and this project feel like part of growing into what you’re supposed to be.”
Time at home has also allowed Platt to grow his other passions. He’s a fly fishing guide and a founder of Rigged and Ready, a fly fishing gear company. Platt is also the coordinator of instructional camps with Béla Fleck and Bryan Sutton. And in October, he and Whitworth will lead a five-night trip to Baja, Mexico, with blue water fly fishing during the day and bluegrass each evening.
“We’re enjoying this vibe of, ‘Let’s just go have some fun and sing songs and keep it simple and honest,’” Platt said. “There’s no pressure anymore. The goal is to play shows that are meaningful for us and for the audience.”
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