The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Front Porch Sessions
Reviewed by: Lauren Rosier
The Southern Indiana vocalist/guitarist, Reverend Peyton, has a thunderous presence that forces everyone around him to take notice in everything he’s involved with. As the frontman of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band (which is truly just a trio, but a ‘big damn band’ in the sense of its personality and epic, one-of-a-kind aura), Peyton makes music that promote fun, positivity, dancing, and everything one would desire from a true Americana/folk band.
Reverend Peyton, “Washboard” Breezy Peyton (washboard), and Max Senteney (drums), are releasing their latest record, The Front Porch Sessions, today on Family Owned Record/Thirty Tiger. It’s a gritty, dirty collection of roots and country blues songs. Regardless of what the trio performs, it’s clear that they continue to separate themselves from any other solo artist or band in the music industry.
The album opener is an apropos upbeat, optimistic track title “We Deserve a Happy Ending.” A bluesy, guitar-driven track, “Happy Ending” is one of those songs that you can’t help but tap your foot, or any other body part, to the beat.
The instrumental tracks of “It’s All Night Long” and “Flying Squirrels” are both upbeat, foot stomping, and clapping songs that takes me to a barn on a warm summer night with dancing, great food and drinks, and great friends.
Peyton paints a realistic picture on “One More Thing” where they sing about hardships and envision the possibility of how losing one more thing could mean they “lose everything.” Peyton sings “…if there’s another bad drought/just one more thing/and we’d lose our house/just one more thing/and we’d lose everything/if the septic goes bad/if the transmission goes out/just one more thing/then we’d lose our house/just one more thing/and we’d lose everything.”
It’s definitely a record that you may have to get used to, but there’s something so interesting and uniquely special about Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and the Front Porch Sessions. They’re definitely not a band I will soon forget and they’ve successfully set themselves apart from the rest of the industry.
Rating: Bad-Ass
