No longer willing to live in denial, Harry Platt, a professional steel guitar player living in Nashville, Tennessee, says that he is determined to face his (possible) issues with alcohol.
“There have been a few red flags,” said Platt, who noted that every one of his serious – and plenty of not-so-serious – relationships had been launched by copious amounts of alcohol. "There may be a pattern there.”
And romantic relationships aren’t the only area to have been affected by his alcohol use, said Platt. “I’ve never blown off a gig because I was drunk, but I’ve certainly missed auditions. And even though I’ve been commercially successful, I can’t honestly say I’ve pushed myself to achieve all I can as a musician.”
What made Platt finally decide to address the question of whether he might have an issue with alcohol, though, was when, one Tuesday afternoon, he ran into a friend downtown and agreed to go for “a quick drink” – only to wind up passed out on a sidewalk hours later. While that, in itself, wouldn’t have been too terrible, Platt realized the next day that, in his drunken haze, he’d completely lost track of the special event to which he’d been invited months earlier: the induction of his longtime mentor and friend, Bucky Ray, into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“I still feel kind of bad about missing that," said Platt. "I mean, these things happen. But still."
Given the warning signs, Platt has resolved to take a stern, unflinching look at the question of whether he might possibly have a bit of an issue with alcohol. He's even considering cutting back a little on his drinking, at least for now.
"I'm not going to make any rash decisions," said Platt. "We'll see how it goes."
