Blues RN: Terri Platts

Terri Platts could be called the Caretaker of the Lowcountry Blues Club. Currently our club Secretary, she rarely misses a jam and is always there helping to set the mood: Peace, Love & Blues. I often start to wax poetic when thinking, discussing or writing about the LBC and BIO’s of club members used to be a regular feature of this blog. Before I transfer North, I wanted to squeeze one more out because Terri is one who embodies the spirit of what makes the club and our regular weekly jams extraordinary. She loves the Lowcountry Blues Club and being out there with all her musician friends and family. She says words can't express how much she loves music and what it has done for her. She returns that favor by encouraging all of the rest of us and helps to promote the musicians and blues in general, especially the new jammers. She says that “it is the music that brings us there, and it is the love of each other, the camaraderie that is most awesome”. We’re a diverse bunch but, it truly is a family.

Our very own Florence Nightingale actually is a nurse and started in the medical profession before any of us had even heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born right here in Charleston, she has been playing and singing her entire life – it’s in her DNA. She can remember being only three years old and watching her father play drums. Her grandfather was an Irish Tenor who, if you are old enough, you may have heard on Charleston radio back when radio was King. Her mother taught her Ukulele at the age of seven when she began playing and singing Hank Williams songs. Just two years later, she was plugging in and playing electric guitar. She moved to California and studied music and voice in college then started singing for weddings. Soon thereafter, she became lead singer for her first band. From there, she started singing, playing guitar, drums and keyboards in her church Praise band where she felt she received great instruction.

In 1996, she moved back to the Lowcountry where she eventually joined a classic rock trio. Her bands over the years have also featured the likes of Eddie Driggers, Mike Peterman and Cliff Griswold under names like Time Machine and Urban Legends. Vocally, her biggest influence was Barbara Streisand but others like Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon and Carole King contributed as well. As for bands, just like the rest of us, she’ll list The Beatles, Stones, SRV, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Eagles and others like Foghat and The Monkee’s.

A lover of all genres, she loves to play rock classics like “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Killing Floor” and then switch gears and sing an old country classic like “Crazy” and then jump to a pretty cover of “Ooo Baby Baby”. She is a drummer who likes others to sit in so she can get out front and sing and also hopes to play more guitar in the future. She has a great desire to continue learning and enjoys new jammers because they teach her new things. Like many of us, she has stopped playing a time or two due to life events but she feels it is a privilege to sing and play and plans to continue as long as she can sing and hold sticks. Can I get a hallelujah!!

She thanks God for her friends Captain Kirk and Max Moore for the continued urging to come out to a jam. It took a while but they finally convinced her to check it out. Consequently, she met Scott Powell and Mike Anklin and started the Howlin’ Pack. We always say the Club is a great place to network! They gig regularly around town. Look for them at Smokey’s, The Brickyard, Pub 61, Main St., Steel Horse and more. Check their Facebook page or ReverbNation for more information.

Expect her role to expand even further along with our President, Captain Kirk due to our Treasurer “Big” Mike Lewellyn moving West and my imminent departure as V.P. But, don’t fret, the club is in good hands and has some big events in store for 2014 and beyond! If you haven’t already, join the family!

Look Wednesday for the regular weekly blog with band listings.

Scott Bucholtz