The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – Front Porch Sessions
Family Owned Records
11 Songs , running time- 34 minutes
For those who like their music straight traditional, acoustic, rustic and rootsy have probably heard this gutsy trio before. For the uninitiated this is a trio of wonderful musicians keeping the faith and reinterpreting old classic blues and roots flavoured tunes. They hail from Brown County in South Indiana and their sound has a true Mississippi hook.
Reverend Peyton is the lead singer and plays slide , finger style and Cigar Box guitars. His vocal delivery is phenomenal singing with deep bass tones . A formidable man, he has great stage presence. Washboard Breezy Peyton backs up tracks on vocals , washboard , tambourine and general claps and snaps. The third member Maxwell Senteney plays drums also suitcase and tambourine.
The band has a unique sound that is very organic in nature. As the title suggests Front Porch Sessions was recorded locally at a studio called Farm Fresh, an old church and certainly the overall acoustic sound has a glorified uplifting feel to it. The eleven tracks here are all faithful to old style rootsy blues music. “We Deserve A Happy Ending” gets the feet tapping and introduces a loud happy sound with true slide vigour. Reverend Peyton wrote six of these tunes with the other five being covers of old blue standards, hollered out, hollowed out and dusted down for a real makeover.
The adaptation of the Furry Lewis track “When My Baby Left Me” is just sublime. Willie Johnson’s ” Let Your Light Shine” is slow and lilting with a punchy gospel delivery . The Pratcher Brothers cover of “It’s All Night Long” is a raucous instrumental and really showcases wonderful guitar picking and slide. The other two covers are traditional , ” When You Lose Your Money” and final track the shifting “Cornbread And Butterbeans” is a hoot.
“Shakey Shirley” for me is a highlight you just want to dance to and it has a real live feel to it . A similar take and feel is noted on the infectious ” Flying Squirrels”, another toe tapper.” One More Thing ” tones things down and is very melodic and stripped down, dripping with emotion and sung with true affection and meaning. “What You Did To The Boy Ain’t Right” whoops along with fiery speed and builds up momentum adding to the real down home feel to the release.
This release does evoke a feeling of true no frills music. For me the root of life is enjoyment, this band surely has that factor in abundance. Go and see them live if you get the chance. This is a great selection of music that demands listening to. Just treat yourself and go out and buy it.
