REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND

The country blues is a gift of 20th century American music, and it’s awesome to see a band tap into its legacy with so much gusto and original vision. – Music City Roots.

Embraced equally by traditional country-blues, indie rock, and punk audiences, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band plays an infectious, updated version of the sound created by country blues legends Son House and Furry Lewis. “We end up playing with a lot of punk rock bands and any kind of roots acts from bluegrass to alt-country to rockabilly to you name it,” says frontman Revered Peyton in his deep Hoosier drawl. Formed in rural Indiana, the band’s 2006 debut impressed Irish rock act Flogging Molly so much that the band invited them out on the road. “They said that they do to Celtic roots music the same thing that we do to old country blues: Write songs about things that are happening now and people we know,” whether it’s a number about being too poor to afford health insurance of just missing Mama Peyton’s fried potatoes.“We come from the same tradition as Charley Patton and Furry Lewis. Patton was playing with his teeth and behind his head in 1930…. Country blues was the first punk rock, if you ask me.” Peyton is a persuasive evangelist for the rootsy country blues styles that captured his imagination early in life and inspired him and his band to make pilgrimages to Clarksdale, Mississippi to study under such blues masters as T-Model Ford and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. The band’s live shows, heavy on vintage gear and renowned for their intensity and abandon, are a decidedly raucous experience. “I’m one of those people who feels everything really hard, for better or worse. If I’m angry, I’m really angry. If I’m sad, I’m really sad. If I’m happy, I’m really happy. So onstage, I tap into that. There are certain songs that I can’t play on some nights, because they’re just too sad. That may be the rantings of a crazy person, but it’s the God’s honest truth.”

THURSDAY, APRIL 27 @ LOWDOWN
8:00-10:00 JAZZ IN LITTLE AFRICA @ LowDown – GET TICKETS

FRIDAY, APRIL 28 @ LOWDOWN
7:15-8:00 “Spain & Beyond” wine tasting – SOLD OUT
8:30-10:00 CHUSCALES FLAMENCO – SOLD OUT 

SATURDAY, APRIL 29 – FREE @ GUTHRIE GREEN
5:00-9:00 Inspyral Circus
5:30-6:30 COUNT TUTU
6:30-7:00 Eric Ryan-Johnson & Gene Curtis
7:00-8:00 PAUL THORN (full band)
8:00-8:30 Perizad Bellydance
8:30-9:30 REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND

After Reverend Peyton’s set, head over to LowDown for Astral Footprints: the music of Wayne Shorter.