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We gave this Doc Watson signature guitar an Our State twist. April 2019 SONGSMITH GATHERING BREVARD

OME PARENTS push their children forces,” John says. “Woody called me Whittington-Pfohl toward relationships in the hope that up and said, ‘My mom thinks that you Auditorium at the Brevard Music Center regularly hosts those relationships will result in marriage and I should create a bluegrass festi- performances by acclaimed or job ofers, but not Cindy Platt. Her rea- val and make it a fund-raiser for the classical musicians. For sons for encouraging her three children Boys & Girls Club.’” Woody and John the Songsmith Gathering, SONGS S songwriters take the stage to forge new relationships were altruistic. It was at wasted no time creating the Mountain with lyrics from the heart. her urging that her youngest child, Woody, the lead Song Festival, a three-day celebra- TO LIVE BY singer of the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass tion of bluegrass that features marquee musicians band Steep Canyon Rangers, reached out to John like Robert Earl Keen, Shannon Whitworth, Tim In Brevard, a gathering devoted to singer-songwriters Felty, a musician and concert producer in the Platts’ O’Brien, and Sam Bush and bands like the Taj and their fans keeps a mother’s wisdom and wishes alive. hometown of Brevard. Mahal Trio in Brevard each fall. (The Steep Canyon “Woody’s mom was the instigator in us joining Rangers are the host band.) Fourteen years later,

written by WILEY CASH ROBISON TIM BY PHOTOGRAPH

130 OUR STATE | April 2019 ourstate.com 131 These are songs with tales to tell. With each one, a new story begins.

the Mountain Song Festival has raised nearly $1 million for the Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County — further proof, as if any of us need it, that mothers know best. Woody and John, cofounders of Mountain Song Productions, figured that if they could have that much fun and raise that much money with one music festival, they ought to try two. John had experimented with a smaller version of a songwriter-focused festival years earlier. The tim- ing seemed right to launch it for a bigger audience. So on a crisp afternoon each April, the Songsmith Gathering springs to life at the Brevard Music Center. From the amphitheater stage, where Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, and countless classical luminaries have performed, comes music native to these forested hills and hollers: ballads. Songs of broken hearts and timeless woes and simple truths. The opening act is a Brevard local, Clint Roberts, whose music is heavy on electric guitar and har- monica, with lyrics that remind one of old country When the food trucks roll in — Brevard’s Rollin’ Woody Platt, front crooners like George Jones or Glen Campbell — if Smoke BBQ and others — the smells of springtime man of the Grammy Award-winning Steep those crooners had grown up listening to Pearl Jam. mingle with smoke. Texas troubadour Beth Wood Canyon Rangers, Honey, I’ve been thinking, as you know I’m wont to takes the stage, acoustic guitar in hand, and sings, launched two do, Clint sings out. Maybe this here ain’t the time or It’s an interstate world. I am a back-roads girl ... festivals to support the Boys & Girls place for the likes of me and you. These are songs Surrounded by woods, her words match this place. Club of Transylvania with tales to tell. With each one, a new story begins. Tucking into plates of ribs and brisket, Walter County: Mountain and Carol Wilson, a retired couple originally from Song Festival and Songsmith WHILE THE MOUNTAIN SONG FESTIVAL LEANS Georgia, explain that they heard about this gather- Gathering. heavily on bluegrass, Songsmith highlights ing through the Mountain Song Festival. “When we Americana music and songwriting. “A great song found out that Woody Platt has a role in Songsmith, transcends genre,” John says, “and there will be we said, ‘Well, I guess we need to go to that, too,’” plenty of great songs performed today.” The lawns Walter says. He nods toward the main stage and around Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium are scat- lifts another forkful of brisket. “I’m glad we did.” tered with blankets and folding chairs that will Another, more intimate stage has been set up by stay occupied long after the blue sky turns dark. the small lake on the property. Mia Rose Lynne, a Folks have come to hear singers and musicians who Nashville transplant by way of California, is picking are also accomplished songwriters: They’ve writ- her guitar and singing, I stared you down, begging, ten songs covered by artists like Brad Paisley, the ‘Baby, read my mind’ … Her gorgeous voice rolls Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, and Bon Iver. They’ve across the lake as if carried by the breeze. Children had their music performed by Willie Nelson and run past, barefoot, dodging the crowds in front of Carlos Santana. But here, they perform it in their the stage. Back here, on the lake, it seems as though

own voice, their own way. Mia Rose is the only musician for miles around. BRENNANSARA BY PHOTOGRAPH

132 OUR STATE | April 2019 Cindy Platt’s husband, Al, and their oldest child, Parker, have planted themselves by the lake, too. Cindy, who passed away suddenly in 2013, would surely have been proud of what Woody and John have created — not once, but twice — to benefit her favorite organization, the Boys & Girls Club, whose local chapter was renamed in her honor a few years ago. “It’s something that she deserved,” Al says, “but it’s not something she would’ve advo- cated for on her own behalf.” Al would know. The two were high school sweet- hearts in Atlanta and were married for more than four decades. They raised three children together and saw each other through the building of careers and communities. Al opened Platt Architecture in Brevard 35 years ago, and Parker works alongside him. While Al designed structures, Cindy designed community projects. She founded and worked with charities that served children in the area. She served two terms on the city council and spent four years as mayor pro tem. In 2000, she worked to open “have a great gift for helping people get out of them North Carolina the Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, and what is inside of them and put it in a song.” singer-songwriter Nikki Talley in 2005, she received the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarah has written songs for some of the best- accompanies her America National Medallion. known recording artists in the country. Her own soulful lyrics on a “She had an infinite amount of patience and a music has appeared on the television shows clawhammer-style banjo and guitar. will to make things hap- Nashville, Pretty Little pen,” Al says. “She was one Liars, and The Wire, among of those fearless women others. “In this business,” who just wouldn’t take no “She was one of those John says, “it takes that kind for an answer.” fearless women who of drive and her kind of fear- Parker laughs. “Like lessness to succeed.” when she came to me and just wouldn’t take no That lesson seems to fan said, ‘We need some young out into the night: It’s found people involved in the for an answer.” in Cindy’s legacy of working Boys & Girls Club, so you hard for the local children need to join the board.’” who need help the most, Nothing seemed too daunting for his mom, he says. and in the performers, and the aspiring songwrit- “She’d say, ‘If we fail, so what? At least we tried.’” ers, too, who have come to soak up their words. “You can learn a lot from a woman like that,” Al Dusk creeps around the edges of the amphithe- says. After Cindy’s death, a memorial event was held ater, and the stage lights form a perfect halo above at Brevard College to honor her life. The theater where Sarah stands behind the microphone, her seats 700 people. It was standing room only. guitar in hand. Everyone, John included, is lost in her voice, her song. You can learn a lot from a AS THE SUN STARTS TO DROP BEHIND THE HILLS, woman like that. the festival crowd settles in for the evening shows. John watches from the wings of the amphitheater Wiley Cash is the author of three books, most as Sarah Siskind takes the stage. She’s been here a recently the novel The Last Ballad. few days already. The Thursday and Friday before the crowds arrive and the shows start, Songsmith hosts a songwriting school, ofering classes with SONGSMITH GATHERING titles such as “Extreme Noticing,” “Beating Writer’s May 18 Block,” and “Inspired by Life.” The classes, which 349 Andante Lane are open to songwriters of all levels, are taught by Brevard, NC 28712

Sarah and Beth Wood. Both of them, John says, songsmithgathering.com ROBISON TIM BY PHOTOGRAPH

134 OUR STATE | April 2019