A native of Brevard, North Carolina, Woody Platt has spent more than two decades as one of bluegrass music’s most recognizable voices and engaging frontmen. As a founding member and longtime lead singer and guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers, Platt helped shape the sound of modern bluegrass while carrying the music of his Western North Carolina roots to stages around the world. His years with the Rangers included extensive touring and recording with Steve Martin, a Grammy Award, and induction with the band into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.

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After stepping away from full-time touring with Steep Canyon Rangers in 2022, Platt returned his focus to home, family, the outdoors, and the mountain community that first inspired him. At the same time, a new chapter in his musical career was already taking shape.

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In 2022, Platt released “One Last Goodbye,” written by Chris Stapleton and Barry Bales. The single climbed to #1 on the Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay Chart and went on to become the most-played song on Bluegrass Today’s year-end airplay chart for 2022, with more than 4,100 spins.

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That momentum ultimately led to Platt’s 2024 solo debut, Far Away With You, released on Compass Records. The album brought together songs connected to Platt’s Western North Carolina community and an extraordinary cast of friends and collaborators, including Darrell Scott, Sam Bush, Del McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, and Platt’s wife, Shannon Whitworth.

A multi-instrumentalist and acclaimed singer-songwriter in her own right, Whitworth is also one of Platt’s closest musical collaborators. Woody and Shannon perform regularly together, bringing a natural musical chemistry to the stage shaped by their shared life, love of songwriting, and deep connection to the mountains they call home.

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That same spirit of friendship and collaboration is at the heart of Woody Platt & The Bluegrass Gentlemen.

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The band brings together an exceptional group of musicians with deep roots in acoustic music: Woody Platt on guitar and vocals, Buddy Melton on bass and vocals, Casey Driessen on fiddle, Daren Shumaker on mandolin, and Bennett Sullivan on banjo. Individually, they bring decades of experience, acclaimed careers, and distinctive musical voices. Together, they create a sound firmly grounded in bluegrass tradition while remaining fresh, spontaneous, and unmistakably their own.

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At the center is Platt’s warm, recognizable voice and relaxed stage presence, surrounded by powerful harmony singing and world-class musicianship. Their performances move naturally between driving bluegrass, thoughtful ballads, original material, and songs chosen simply because they love to play them. There is virtuosity onstage, but never at the expense of the song. The result feels less like a collection of decorated musicians and more like what the band truly is: friends and neighbors making music together.

Platt’s connection to Western North Carolina extends well beyond music. A lifelong fly fisherman, he has worked as a fly-fishing guide for more than 30 years and is an avid outdoorsman with a deep commitment to protecting the mountains and waterways that have shaped his life. His passion for land conservation, river restoration, and clean water has led him to become personally involved in the restoration of more than a mile of the East Fork of the French Broad River.

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Platt also serves on the board of Conserving Carolina, a regional land trust dedicated to protecting natural lands and resources. Through that work and his involvement alongside other environmental organizations, he advocates for conservation, river restoration, and initiatives that protect and improve water quality throughout the region. For Platt, stewardship of the land and water is not separate from his music—it grows from the same lifelong connection to place, community, and the mountains of Western North Carolina.

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With The Bluegrass Gentlemen, Platt honors the music that shaped him without treating tradition as something frozen in time. Rich harmonies, tasteful arrangements, inspired picking, and the easy chemistry of musicians who genuinely enjoy playing together give every performance its own character.

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For this Brevard native, the latest chapter feels in many ways like a return to where it all began: the mountains and rivers of Western North Carolina, good songs, great musicians, family, friendship, and a commitment to preserving the place he calls home. Woody Platt & The Bluegrass Gentlemen carry that spirit forward—deeply rooted in bluegrass tradition and the mountains that shaped them, while always looking toward what comes next.