Brown County Indiana based trio The Reverend Payton’s Big Damn Band have announced their first run of tour dates for 2012. After a storybook 2011 that included sold out shows across the world, the release of the critically acclaimed Peyton on Patton the band will is getting back on the road to bring their brand of blues to the world. The tour kicks off on March 15th in West Virginia and wraps April 28th with a hometown show in Bloomington, IN.
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. But the Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band are all that and more. With wild sing-a-longs and flaming washboards, their live shows have been converting skeptics left and right.!
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 fe! stival, Bonnoroo and tours with Flogging Molly, Derek Trucks Band 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 and Roy Rogers. “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 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.”
For More Information: www.bigdamnband.com
Dirty South Tour Dates:
Thursday March 15 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street Friday
March 16 Huntington, WV V Club Saturday
March 17 Clarksburg, WV PJ Kelley’s Tuesday
March 20 Roanoke, VA Growlers Wednesday
March Greensboro, NC Blind Tiger Friday
March 23rd Asheville, NC Jack of the Woods Saturday
March 24 Weaverville, NC Jack of Hearts Tuesday
March 27 Durham, NC Casbah Wednesday
March 28 Charlotte, NC The Double Door Inn Thursday
March 29 West Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern Friday
March 30 Greenville, SC Gott Rocks Saturday
March 31 Kill Devil Hills, NC Outer Banks Brewing Station
April 4 Atlanta, GA Star Bar
April 5 Savannah, GA Congress Street Social Club
April 6 St. Augustine, FL Cafe Eleven
April 7 Tampa, FL Crowbar
April 8 Sarasota, FL The Blue Owl
April 9 Orlando, FL Will’s Pub
April 10 & 11 Panama City, FL Pineapple Willy’s
April 14 Clarksdale, MS Juke Joint Festival Ground Zero Blues Club
April 15 Clarksdale, MS Juke Joint Festival
April 18 Memphis, TN Young Ave Deli
April 20 Louisville, KY Jim Porter’s
April 28 Bloomington, IN The Bluebird
