By Ryan Thompson
Led by Reverend Peyton, who most consider to be the premier finger picker playing today. He has earned a reputation as both a singularly compelling performer and a persuasive evangelist for the rootsy country blues styles that captured his imagination early in life and inspired him and his band to make pilgrimages to Clarksdale, Mississippi to study under such blues masters as T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. The Big Damn Band will be debuting his latest album at Arlington Arts, Newbury on August 23.
Like The White Stripes and The Black Keys, this energized band is able to translate the spirit of those seminal masters into the 21st century to an eclectic and rabid fan base. American Blues Scene recently had him on their cover and declared, “Like the Rolling Stones in the 60’s, Reverend Peyton is bringing young music fans back to the blues.
The bands new CD Poor Until Payday will be released October 5 on Thirty Tigers. Featuring the focus tracks “Poor Until Payday”, “Dirty Swerve”, and “You Can’t Steal My Shine” Reverend Peyton uses vintage recording techniques and vintage gear to create a sound that is minimal to the point of sounding monumental. Poor Until Payday is a bluesy ode to the blue collar, working class and it delvers in spades.