Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a three-piece country blues group from Brown County, Indiana, consisting of guitarist and lead singer Reverend Peyton, Breezy Peyton on washboard, and Max Senteney on Drums.
The group’s sound ranges from the traditional acoustic country blues genre to their own energetic and electric brand of the blues boogie sound, which is showcased in much of the band’s latest full-length album, “Dance Songs For Hard Times.”
Peyton’s guitar playing style reflects his blues roots, particularly the greats of country blues, such as Charlie Patton, who Peyton paid tribute to in his cover album, “Peyton on Patton.” Peyton incorporates both finger-picking and slide guitar, a technique that traditionally makes use of a glass bottleneck slide on the strings in order to ‘slide’ between notes, creating an effect similar to the human voice.
“For me, it starts with the greats of country blues, and I’ve just tried to take it and make it my own, and try to play guitar with my own voice,” Peyton said, illustrating how he uses slide guitar to compliment his singing voice, “The beauty of slide guitar is that it is so vocal, you can play all those notes in between the frets.”
Peyton also stated that traditional blues slide guitar music has roots in traditional African folk musical scales, which feature notes that are easily achievable through the use of a slide.
“When you’re listening to maybe Fred McDowell or Charley Patton with someone, and they’ll say it sounds like he’s out of tune,” Peyton said, highlighting the use of slide to play specific pitches on the guitar, “he’s not of tune, those notes are on purpose, they’re between the frets, they’re between the chromatic notes.”
The other element of Peyton’s style involves the use of finger-picking, a plucking technique that uses the thumb to play bass lines on the lower strings and the remaining fingers to play lead and melody parts on the higher strings, commonly used in country, folk and blues music. Peyton points to country blues players, such as Patton and Robert Johnson, as his inspirations to his finger-picking style.
“It is just to take a guitar and create two parts with it,” Peyton said, explaining that the purpose of finger-picking in blues was traditionally used to give the illusion of two musicians playing at the same time, “originally, it would been just economical, you couldn’t afford a band, so you had to be the band.”
Peyton’s energetic blues style contrasts with the lyrical content of his songs, often containing dark or sad lyrics, which is apparent on a majority of the tracks from “Dance Songs for Hard Times.” Peyton said that his lyrics are all inspired by real moments from his own life, and his songwriting is often autobiographical.
One track off the album, “Crime to be Poor,” is an example of this element of his writing, being based off of a real experience, where a family friend faced a prison sentence, due to the fact that they weren’t able to afford an attorney in time for trial. The song illustrates Peyton’s frustrations with inequality in the justice system.
“If you’re gonna be honest with yourself, with the people who are listening, the lyrics are gonna be dark,” Peyton said, highlighting the importance of pure honesty in his own writing, “if you’re going to hold up a mirror to life, and say ‘look at this,’ there’s gonna be beautiful points almost beyond your comprehension, and there’s gonna be darkness beyond your comprehension, too.”
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is playing at Kenny’s Westside Pub in Peoria on Thursday, April 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets, music and more info can be found at the band’s web site.
