Rev. Peyton delivers north country blues

Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band

Over the past three years the Indiana country-blues trio known as Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band has been among the busiest bands in the nation, logging over 250 shows a year. 

But what distinguishes them from many other groups besides their fondness for the acoustic, story-oriented sounds of the Mississippi Delta rather than the high-powered electric mode of Chicago or Texas is the fact they don’t confine their appearances to a handful of festivals and small blues clubs.

“We’ve played in punk clubs, rock halls, blues and jazz festivals, even at country events,” Rev. Peyton recalls. “We’ve had people come up to us and say we love your bluegrass, even though we don’t play bluegrass. Part of it is the fact people aren’t nearly as familiar with country blues as they are with electric city style.

“The whole blues-rock thing is all over the place, and you’ve got all types of people doing their variations on Buddy Guy or Otis Rush. Also, the songs that we do will work in any setting.”

A prime example of their variety is Wednesday’s appearance at The End. Though it’s their first time at that site, they’ve previously done Music City shows at The Basement, 12th and Porter, 3rd and Lindsley and the now defunct City Hall.

Besides Rev. Peyton on finger-style guitar and vocals, others in the group include his wife, vocalist and washboard player Breezy Patton and drummer Jayme Peyton, his brother.

“We’re kind of the ultimate family band,” Peyton laughs.

That closeness is apparent in the crisp, energetic and animated material on their discs. While Peyton cites among his influences such legends as Charlie Patton, Son House, Furry Lewis and Mississippi John Hurt, the trio steadfastly avoids doing covers of those tunes and instead specializes in tunes supplied by Peyton.

“I think a major problem with blues today is the insistence by some groups and for that matter blues societies on bands replaying numbers that have already been made standards in the past,” Peyton said. “I can’t do a Son House song the way he did it, or a Patton number. They lived in a different time and place, and those songs are expressions of their times and lives. They are fantastic, but I don’t see what sense it makes for us to do them now.”

Peyton says that every song he writes is ‘a true’ song.

“There are some people who are great at what I call fiction songs — tunes that don’t have anything to do with their lives. That’s not me,” he said. “Every song that I do is about someone or something in my life, my friends, and things that I’ve experienced. Some of them are serious and some of them are silly, because that’s the way life operates. But all of them are real, and I think people can really respond and relate to that.” 

A trio of songs from their current release The Whole Fam Damnily reflects Peyton’s determination to sing about personal experiences and feelings. “What’s Mine Is Yours” offers tender, sentimental evocations about love and romance, while “Walmart Killed the Country Store” illuminates the impact of the giant corporation on a beloved community institution. “Can’t Pay The Bill” could be subtitled “The Recession Blues” as it details the lament of someone whose finances are overwhelmed by their debts.

“The major reason why I prefer the country blues is because of the storytelling aspects,” Peyton added. “I feel that those numbers really were about stories and events, and you could tell them in the way that you felt comfortable. A lot of times with electric blues you become a prisoner of the form. You’ve got to do everything in a 12-bar structure, and then you have the turnarounds and all those other things, and sometimes they get in the way of the story.

“I really feel like there’s still a healthy audience out there for the blues,” he continued. “But one problem is that some bands don’t understand that this isn’t museum piece music. You’ve still got to entertain, write songs that people like and do good shows. The attitude that we’re just playing this vintage music and you’re supposed to acknowledge how great it is doesn’t do the music a service. It just turns a lot of people off.”

But Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band turns a lot of different people on too.

“We have people at our shows of all ages, and there will sometimes be an old lady with grey hair standing next to some kid with a Mohawk and a girl with blue hair,” Peyton said. “They’re all enjoying the music, and that’s the great thing about the blues to me, because you can hear some aspect of the country blues in almost every type of pop and rock music around.”

What: The Indiana country-blues trio Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band along with Dixie Whiskey and Cheer Up Charlie Daniels

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday

Where: The End, 2219 Elliston Place

Cost: $8

Info: 321-4457