BROWN
COUNTY, Ind. — Southern Indiana-bred singer-guitarist Reverend Peyton is
the bigger-than-life frontman of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. He
has earned a reputation as both a singularly compelling performer and 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, Robert Belfour and David “Honeyboy” Edwards.
That passionate inspiration has made Reverend
Peyton’s Big Damn Band America’s foremost country blues outfit and fuels
the Rev’s new release, The Front Porch Sessions. Peyton’s
dazzling guitar mastery is equaled here by his knack for vivid, emotionally
impactful songwriting, and his originals are matched in their authenticity
by the deeply felt vintage blues tunes that he covers. The album showcases
the Rev’s irrepressible personality while echoing the enduring spirit of
such acoustic blues icons as Charlie Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, Bukka
White and Furry Lewis, whose “When My Baby Left Me” receives a memorable
reading.
The Front Porch
Sessions will be
released March
10, 2017 on Family Owned Records/Thirty Tigers.
The Front Porch Sessions maintains a potent level of intensity throughout,
from the upbeat optimism of the album-opener “We Deserve a Happy Ending” to
the blunt slice-of-life rural reality of “One More Thing” to the
rollicking, playful swagger of “Shakey Shirley,” “One Bad Shoe” and
“Cornbread and Butterbeans.” Meanwhile, the instrumentals “It’s All Night
Long” and “Flying Squirrels” demonstrate the Rev’s nimble, imaginative
guitar work.
That lifelong pursuit of musical authenticity was
instilled in his musical consciousness while Peyton was growing up in rural
Indiana, where his early love for blues, ragtime, folk, country and other
traditional styles gave him a sense of direction that would soon manifest
itself in his own music. He and the Big Damn Band won a large and loyal fan
base, thanks to their tireless touring efforts and high-energy showmanship,
along with such acclaimed albums as Big Damn Nation, The
Gospel Album, The Whole Fam Damnily, The Wages, Between
the Ditches, So Delicious and the Charlie Patton
tribute disc Peyton on Patton.
Despite his prior achievements, the Rev views The
Front Porch Sessions as a personal creative
milestone. “I really think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever
done,” he asserts. “I’m interested in making hand-made American music, and
the goal is to be timeless.”
# # #
Join the 4.1
Million Internet viewers who have watched the video of Reverend Peyton
playing Shotgun Guitar, also seen on Comedy Central.
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