Tuned in to the Good Life

Singer/songwriter/painter Shannon Whitworth and Woody Platt, founding member of the Steep Canyon Rangers and co-producer of the Mountain Song Festival, enjoy a well-tuned Americana lifestyle in rural Brevard with their baby son Rivers. Photo by Tim Robison
Singer/songwriter/painter Shannon Whitworth and Woody Platt, founding member of the Steep Canyon Rangers and co-producer of the Mountain Song Festival, enjoy a well-tuned Americana lifestyle in rural Brevard with their baby son Rivers. Photo by Tim Robison

The rural Brevard-area home that musicians Woody Platt and Shannon Whitworth share with their baby son, Rivers, has music spilling out its doors. Sure, there’s a porch for pickin’ — but generally, the home’s musical motif meets visitors even before that, with a bass-voice howl in the driveway.

That would be Patsy Cline, a basset hound/black lab mix who’s typically the first to welcome folks to the white two-story farmhouse, located on 15 acres near the north fork of the French Broad River.

Guitarist/vocalist Platt, co-producer of Brevard’s Mountain Song Festival and founding member of bluegrass stars the Steep Canyon Rangers (the band has toured with Steve Martin, and, in 2013, picked up a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for Nobody Knows You), and Whitworth, an accomplished singer/songwriter and painter, moved into their home in 2010.

The couple has imbued personal touches inside and out. Gone is a wall that separated the dining room from a hallway; two windows in the dining area became doors that open onto a new outdoor space. And this porch, which features a cathedral ceiling and fireplace, is where the family spends most of its time during three seasons.

They relaxed there recently, with eight-month-old Rivers moving between his parents, munching a snack and playing with his toys, to answer questions about their well-tuned Americana lifestyle.

The music room is a capsule of the touring couple’s frequent travels and honors. Photo by Tim Robison
The music room is a capsule of the touring couple’s frequent travels and honors. Photo by Tim Robison

How much are y’all out on the porch?
Shannon Whitworth: About 85 percent of the time. … I make T-shirts for the Rangers and me here. This turns into a partial art studio, and it drives Woody crazy.

Woody Platt: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Rivers’ play time. Nap time. We play music out here. Shannon paints out here.

Everything in our house has paint on it — and it’s not from Rivers.

What’s the background of the house?
Woody: It was built in 1933. All the locals have stories of being in this house. They come over and tell us about the matriarch of this house, and how she took care of everyone’s kids. They all have stories of sitting on the porch and eating food here. We get random pictures, and people stop by to fill us in on the history of the house, and that’s totally cool.

So you knew of this property when you were growing up?
Woody: Yeah, I’d come out here to go fishing and admire it as a fishing-lodge type place.

Shannon: I remember in the early 2000s, when Woody and I were just friends, and we’d come out here to fish and he was like, “I’m going to own that house one day.” Lo and behold, not only does he own it, but we’re together, too. It’s kind of crazy.

Woody: I definitely had my sights on this house for a long time.

How much has life changed since Rivers was born?
Shannon: Lots. It’s been a beautiful blessing to slow down touring. This has enabled me to experience the miracle of what this is about. I’ve been able to paint again, and it’s been amazing. I’m home and can feed the things in me that I’ve neglected for a long time.

Woody: It’s kind of hard to stop the touring right now with what [the Steep Canyon Rangers] have got going on. It’s all about hustling home. Recently we went to the Northwest to play, and there was a window of about 48 hours before we needed to be in Denver. A few years ago, I might have just went straight to Denver. But now I’m going to come home, spend about 36 hours, check in with Shannon and Rivers. It’s just important to be present. When we’re off, we’re off, and we get a lot of time together.

Do you have a music room in the house?
Woody: No, but my office has a lot of instruments in it.

Shannon: Every room is kind of a music room. We have an instrument in every room. You just never know when the inspiration will hit. We have our TV room that I thought would one day be a music room. We collect a lot of vinyl, and I have this killer 1969 Zenith console which we love. It has the best speakers.

Woody: I would say that most of the music is played on the porch right now. We’ve had a couple of picking parties out here.

Why do you have some awards upstairs in the office, but the Grammy is downstairs in the dining room on a desk shelf?
Woody: The Grammy is a different level. These are International Bluegrass Music Association awards, and I’m very proud of them … [but] the Grammy, to me, is the pinnacle.

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