It doesn’t get more real than this. Raw, heartfelt, streaming right out of centuries of country blues, bluesy blues and folk, Reverend Peyton’s music is meant to experienced live, where their incredible musical skills and honest-to-goodness message can reach you directly.
The band was already deep into touring Europe when we caught up via email.
Rux: First things first, where am I catching you today?
Rev: Today we are deep in the south of Germany! Tour is rolling along, and we are full of sauerkraut and coffee!
Rux: I’ve read that you’re a great collector of guitars. How many have you brought on tour in Europe? Any new additions to the collection you’re excited about?
Rev: I have eight guitars with me on this tour. It may seem excessive, but they all get played. Each is in a different tuning, and each is set up for that tuning. I play many many different tunings on stage.
Rux: I find it incredible that you and the band are on tour for most of the year (I read that you had 250 dates one year), what’s been helping you stay energetic this time crossing the pond? How do you keep your voice going night after night?
Rev: This may not be a very rock and roll answer, but it is sleep. You have to get sleep. That’s the one thing I have noticed. And as I get older, I need more and more sleep to keep my voice together.
Rux: Any new stops on the summer tour this year you’re curious about or that you’ve really enjoyed being in?
Rev: We saw some Norwegian towns that were new to us, and that’s always wonderful. Amazing waterfalls and amazing sea ports. We’ve been to so many places worldwide, that getting to new places is more rare than it used to be! It’s always great to see our friends in other countries too. We are looking forward to being in the UK and the Netherlands which is where we end the tour. Those places seem to be the easiest for us over here because the fans are so awesome and we know our way around so well.
Rux: I’ve been listening to your latest album, Honeysuckle, and it’s definitely more subdued, sometimes lonelier, often stripped back down to basics, more so than Dance Songs for Hard Times. What’s changed since 2021 that gave birth to Honeysuckle as it is?
Rev: I contain multitudes. Every record we’ve ever released has had a solo song with just me and a guitar. This is like that but expanded upon. It’s acoustic, but not just me and a guitar always. The Big Damn Band is all over it, and we have killer special guests too. It’s somewhere between our Peyton on Patton record and Front Porch Sessions record, but the vocals are better and I think it’s a much more emotional record. It is for me anyway.
Rux: I saw The Dead South and The McCrary Sisters credited on Honeysuckle, how did those collaborations happen?
Rev: We just asked them! It’s an honor to have friends that are at the literal top of musical talent in the world! These are artists that are absolutely world class both onstage and off. Wonderful shining lights of positivity and talent.
If you’ve never seen the band play live, their format as a trio may seem a bit barebones. Until, that is, they start playing: drummer Jacob Powell and his trusty bucket, Rev with his fingerstyle technique that can easily fool you he’s playing both a bass guitar and fifty acoustics simultaneously, and his wife Breezy on a rather exotic instrument, the washboard.
Rux: How do Europeans react to the washboard? It’s an almost exotic instrument here, I think, but it truly rounds off your sound.
Rev: Breezy is a star. There’s no doubt about it. She’s one of the best washboard players in the world, and her stage presence is like a lightning bolt. They seem to love it, but I’m not sure if it’s the washboard or just simply Washboard Breezy they love.
Rux: How do the blues land in Europe?
Rev: I think all American music goes well with European crowds. At least that’s been our experience. I don’t know if we’ve just had a more positive experience than others or what. I believe that real, from the heart music, created by people that love it and are good at it just transcends borders, language, and culture.
Rux: Naturally, all your music is as human as it gets: the three of you playing together, the stories are of human emotions and experiences, it’s the blues after all. I imagine, with all the overproduced pop on the radio and the talk about GenAI in the music industry, your live performances are like an oasis of realness for people. What do you see changing in the people who come see you live, do they connect differently now than they did 10 years ago?
Rev: I think people are a little more reluctant to lose themselves to the music. Maybe it’s fear of being on someone’s iPhone video. It hasn’t changed our focus. It’s going to be real and handmade or nothing for us.
Rux: When you write your music, do you have an image of the United States you’re writing for or about? Is it hopefulness, nostalgia? Your music is never afraid, on the contrary, it’s like consistently fighting back against the dark.
Rev: I write specifically what I know. All of my songs are based on my life and the things that I’ve seen and grown up with. I don’t set out to find themes… I just let the universe, the “muse” or whatever, take the process wherever it may go. I do so increasingly without fear now. That’s for sure. I’m going to write what I want. Come what may.
Rux: I read a few other interviews you’ve done and you really know your American music history! So many artists I’d never heard off, including (to my shame) Charley Patton, who seems to have been quite the influence on you. Who are some of the early luminaries you wish more people knew about?
Rev: Charley Patton for sure! Off the top of my head now…. Bukka White, Furry Lewis. Mississippi John Hurt. Mississippi Fred McDowell, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Belfour, T Model Ford, RL Burnside, Hounddog Taylor, Magic Sam, Johnny Winter, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters.*
Rux: Any contemporary musicians you enjoy listening to?
Rev: Absolutely! There are so many! JD McPherson, Samantha Fish, Daddy Long Legs, Eric Gales, Shemekia Copeland, JJ Grey. I could list names all day. More good music now than ever, you just have to find it.
Rux: You’ll soon be celebrating 20 years since your debut album with the band. Any plans for celebrating that?
Rev: Should we?
Rux: If time allows, totally!
The Big Damn Band honours the classical American tradition of hard-working touring bands, carving out a space for their music by relentlessly going up and down the country from dive bar to small venues to porches to people’s houses, sharing their music, finding their people, and the people finding in their songs that ineffable something that can keep a light on in the darkest of times.
Rev: People should know that AI and the big tech companies have made it way harder to be a musician now. We are all slaves to an ever changing algorithm. Streaming has stolen the revenue we once had from records. AI is on the horizon to take the rest.
I don’t know the future, but if you love real music, you need to come to shows, buy merch, sign up on artists Patreon accounts, and help spread the word. It’s tough out here, but it’s a fight worth fighting.
Huge thanks to Rev. Peyton for his time and to James Wallace of Pomona PR for organising! Catch Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band live in London on Friday 27th at the 100 Club (tickets available on DICE) and across Europe and the US from now until September!