A lively crowd filled the small music venue upstairs at Traeger’s Bar on Saturday for an intimate evening of blues and rock with guitarist Levi Platero, bassist Jacob Shije and drummer Royce Platero.
“So when we decided to do this show, we're thinking like, Oh man, we've never really done like an acoustic show like this. We kind of give this a shot. So bear with us. We didn't practice … hey, hey,” Platero said introducing his bandmates.
They kicked into rollicking instrumental suggesting a blues-soaked hoedown, featuring lightning-quick picking by Platero before he launched into “Gypsy Eyes” by Jimi Hendrix.
Displaying his friendly, jovial manner, Platero asked a woman seated in the front booth for her name. She said, “Denise” and Platero said, “this one’s for everyone and I just want to thank you guys for coming out.”
His banter continued.
“We don’t usually do acoustic shows, so we thought we’d do something really intimate and cute. So for our gratification if you guys would just kind of take a look underneath your chair or table – you’ll find that there’s nothing there, ha-ha gotcha,” he said.
Saying “Let’s play some blues,” Platero and band dove into Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy,” another high-level rendition, as a roaring crowd showing their appreciation.
Someone suggested a Gary Clark Jr. song and Platero quickly responded spot on with the opening chords of “Bright Lights, Big City,” singing the familiar line, “You’re going to know my name by the end of the night.”
After a bit more strumming and singing, he stopped and said, “OK, I’m not going to go off on that … see we’re just having fun, is that OK?”
The audience had fun with the next song, “Superstition,” by Stevie Wonder, which gave Platero the chance for an extended jam.
His next song, “Better Half,” was written for his wife, who he said “should have been here tonight, but it’s all right.”
Platero said “over the last month things have kind of blown up.” Shije added that included Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook. Platero said their followers have tripled on Spotify, “so it’s kind of cool seeing where everything is going. So thank you guys … we’re just three Indians playing music.”
“Firewater Whiskey,” from their last album, with a catchy baseline and guitar riff, captivated the room. Platero said that after two years it was finally getting noticed.
Platero handed his Silvertone guitar to Shije for “Red Wild Woman,” while he sang and played harmonica.
For Muddy Water’s “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” and Tom Petty’s “Last Dance for Mary Jane” Platero showed more of his mouth harp skills.
Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Living Life by the Drop” offered up great strumming and vocals by Platero, who said it was the Doyle Bramhall version.
The captivating performance wound up with Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and “Third Stone from the Sun,” with a fabulous drum solo by Royce on the Cajon mini-drum set.
Royce Platero said the band is in the finishing stages of a new album, being recorded at the Rio Grande Studios in Albuquerque. They hope to release it in a couple of months, he said.
As stated on his website, “Platero is a Diné blues artist from To’hajilee, New Mexico, whose intuitive guitar playing soulfully encapsulates a lifetime of experience.”
A $50 pawnshop guitar given to Platero at age 9 provided the opportunity to develop his natural musical talent. By 14, he was performing with his father, Murphy Platero, and cousin Douglas Platero in their family band, The Plateros.
He began touring with some of the biggest Native names in the industry as a teenager, according to the Native Max Magazine article on his website.
Platero missed two months of school while touring with well-known Native artist Micki Free and alongside artists like Derek Miller, Gary Farmer, Martha Redbone and Keith Secola.
In 2013, The Plateros, began touring and playing with Indigenous, a blues-rock band from South Dakota. Platero stayed with them until about 2015, and then returned for another year from 2017 to 2018.
Platero said in a 2022 interview with grammy.com after the release of his album, “Dying Breed,” that Mato Nanji (Standing Bear), leader of Indigenous was a “big role model.” He refers to him as “big brother.”
His love of the blues is obvious in his seemingly effortless, instinctive playing. In that interview he said, “The blues can be “an opposition to the status quo. Likewise, it can mean 12 bars, or the totality of human angst. But for me, it's something that's just really raw, emotional, really straightforward.”
