REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND There aren’t a lot of Warped Tour vets who
can claim proficiency in the use of washboards, bottleneck slides and five-gallon buckets.
Most didn’t spend their teens playing along to Charlie Patton and Bukka White albums.
And just about none are fronted by a commissioned member of the Honorary Order of
Kentucky Colonels. The Big Damn Band is very much a family affair, with the good
reverend on finger-style resonator guitar and lead vocals, his wife “Washboard” Breezy
Peyton on washboard and vocals, and distant cousin Aaron “Cuz” Persinger on drums
and bucket. The band’s home base is deep in the hills of Southern Indiana’s Brown
County, which boasts a population of 14,957. (Or 14,954 when the band’s out on the
road playing close to 250 gigs a year, including appearances at the Austin City Limits
festival and tours with Flogging Molly, Derek Trucks, and Clutch.) “I grew up in the
country, and rural life and rural culture has shaped me and my music,” says Reverend
Peyton, who really is a Kentucky Colonel, just like Elvis Presley, Roy Rogers and Tiger
Woods. “I have been playing music since I was a little kid. I am pretty sure we are on
to something now.” That combination of authenticity and originality is evident throughout
The Wages, driven by the trio’s big damn vocals and melodies, gutbucket guitar playing,
and foot-stomping rhythms, all in service of songs that are honest and moving, devoid
of irony or artifice. “We may be few in numbers, but we sound big,” says Washboard
Breezy. “And I think we stand for something big too.  Even if sometimes it’s just that it
is okay to be a regular person.”

Performances
Friday, August 12 Budweiser Stage 6:30 pm

Web Links
http://www.bigdamnband.com/home/
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Big Damn Band Facebook