{"id":28730,"date":"2024-03-12T21:59:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T21:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-levi-platero-band-rocks-traegers-bar-in-farmington\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:38:39","slug":"the-levi-platero-band-rocks-traegers-bar-in-farmington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-levi-platero-band-rocks-traegers-bar-in-farmington\/","title":{"rendered":"The Levi Platero Band rocks Traeger\u2019s Bar in Farmington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Levi
Levi Platero (left) is joined by Jacob Shije on bass. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A lively crowd filled the small music venue upstairs at Traeger\u2019s Bar on Saturday for an intimate evening of blues and rock with guitarist Levi Platero, bassist Jacob Shije and drummer Royce Platero.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when we decided to do this show, we\u2019re thinking like, Oh man, we\u2019ve never really done like an acoustic show like this. We kind of give this a shot. So bear with us. We didn\u2019t practice \u2026 hey, hey,\u201d Platero said introducing his bandmates.<\/p>\n

They kicked into rollicking instrumental suggesting a blues-soaked hoedown, featuring lightning-quick picking by Platero before he launched into \u201cGypsy Eyes\u201d by Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n

Displaying his friendly, jovial manner, Platero asked a woman seated in the front booth for her name. She said, \u201cDenise\u201d and Platero said, \u201cthis one\u2019s for everyone and I just want to thank you guys for coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n

His banter continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t usually do acoustic shows, so we thought we\u2019d 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 \u2013 you\u2019ll find that there\u2019s nothing there, ha-ha gotcha,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Levi
Levi Platero (left) has honed his vocal skills, along with superb guitar playing. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Saying \u201cLet\u2019s play some blues,\u201d Platero and band dove into Stevie Ray Vaughn\u2019s \u201cPride and Joy,\u201d another high-level rendition, as a roaring crowd showing their appreciation.<\/p>\n

Someone suggested a Gary Clark Jr. song and Platero quickly responded spot on with the opening chords of \u201cBright Lights, Big City,\u201d singing the familiar line, \u201cYou\u2019re going to know my name by the end of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a bit more strumming and singing, he stopped and said, \u201cOK, I\u2019m not going to go off on that \u2026 see we\u2019re just having fun, is that OK?\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience had fun with the next song, \u201cSuperstition,\u201d by Stevie Wonder, which gave Platero the chance for an extended jam.<\/p>\n

His next song, \u201cBetter Half,\u201d was written for his wife, who he said \u201cshould have been here tonight, but it\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Levi Platero Band plans to release a new album soon. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Platero said \u201cover the last month things have kind of blown up.\u201d Shije added that included Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook. Platero said their followers have tripled on Spotify, \u201cso it\u2019s kind of cool seeing where everything is going. So thank you guys \u2026 we\u2019re just three Indians playing music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirewater Whiskey,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Platero handed his Silvertone guitar to Shije for \u201cRed Wild Woman,\u201d while he sang and played harmonica.<\/p>\n

For Muddy Water\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Your Hoochie Coochie Man\u201d and Tom Petty\u2019s \u201cLast Dance for Mary Jane\u201d Platero showed more of his mouth harp skills.<\/p>\n

Stevie Ray Vaughn\u2019s \u201cLiving Life by the Drop\u201d offered up great strumming and vocals by Platero, who said it was the Doyle Bramhall version.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Levi Platero Band, with of Levi Platero on guitar and vocals, Royce Platero on drums and Jacob Shije on bass and vocals. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The captivating performance wound up with Hendrix\u2019s \u201cLittle Wing\u201d and \u201cThird Stone from the Sun,\u201d with a fabulous drum solo by Royce on the Cajon mini-drum set.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Platero\u2019s early years<\/div>\n

As stated on his website<\/a>, \u201cPlatero is a Din\u00e9 blues artist from To\u2019hajilee, New Mexico, whose intuitive guitar playing soulfully encapsulates a lifetime of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Platero said in a 2022 interview with grammy.com <\/a>after the release of his album, \u201cDying Breed,\u201d that Mato Nanji (Standing Bear), leader of Indigenous was a \u201cbig role model.\u201d He refers to him as \u201cbig brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

His love of the blues is obvious in his seemingly effortless, instinctive playing. In that interview he said, \u201cThe blues can be \u201can opposition to the status quo. Likewise, it can mean 12 bars, or the totality of human angst. But for me, it\u2019s something that\u2019s just really raw, emotional, really straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

expected to release soon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80512,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28730\/revisions\/80512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28730"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}