If there’s any truth in the old adage that “the family that plays together stays together,” the Peytons of Indiana will be tight until the next ice age. The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band coalesced a mere three years ago, but in that time the Country/Blues trio — Reverend Peyton on guitar, his wife Breezy on washboard, and brother Jayme on drums — has averaged 250 shows a year in front of every conceivable kind of audience. And whether the marquee has promised an evening of Rockabilly or Punk or Country or Bluegrass or Roots Rock, the Big Damn Band has left the stage with another group of fervent members for their growing congregation.
The Peytons formed the Big Damn Band in 2005 and solidified their decision to go all out by selling everything they owned in a massive yard sale so they could begin touring regionally. Within a year, the BDB had sold 5000 copies of their demo and decided to take their act down a longer road after the release of 2006’s Big Damn Nation.
They caught a big break when they shared a festival stage with Flogging Molly, who were so impressed they took the BDB out with them on the remainder of their tour.
The trio’s latest album, The Whole Fam Damnily, is another slice of stripped-down, amped-up Country Blues informed by their love of Charley Patton and Furry Lewis and inspired by their day-to-day lives (who can’t relate to “Can’t Pay the Bill” and “Walmart Killed the Country Store” and, perhaps to a lesser extent, “Your Cousin’s On Cops”).
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This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2008.
