~by Brian Blair
Days before The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band was to fly to Alaska for two concerts, the group’s frontman was dreaming of seemingly a million streams.
Oh, way more than merely Spotify and Apple song streams, mind you.
The former Indiana certified fishing guide was as excited about angling for salmon and halibut as he normally is angling for one of his roots-blues tunes to make a splash.
“We’ll be in one of the best spots for all that [fishing],” he said, speaking by phone from Colorado during one of the trio’s stops on its current tour in support of the 2025 album Honeysuckle, the band’s 11 organic country-blues release.
The tour comes to Nashville’s Brown County Music Center on Nov. 7 when the trio, consisting of lead singer and guitarist Reverend Petyon, master of the washboard wife Breezy Peyton, and drummer Jacob “The Snakob” Powell, headlines the annual Amplify Nashville concert. The show will open with winners from the Songwriter Showdown and Rumble on the Rocks contests. The primary purpose of Amplify Nashville is to develop, support, and showcase musical talent in Brown County while raising money for local charities.
“Music is one of Brown County’s chief exports,” Reverend Peyton said, highlighting everything from Bill Monroe’s bluegrass legacy in Bean
Blossom to the past parade of top country music stars at the former Little Nashville Opry. “That’s one of the biggest things that people know this area for.”
Big Damn Band fans know Reverend Peyton and company for being what some have labeled the world’s greatest front-porch blues crew.
The trio regularly shot videos on the Peytons’ Bean Blossom log cabin front porch before they moved to Nashville.
Rev Peyton’s fingerstyle blues guitar work has earned praise from music critics and fellow musicians. And when it comes to novelty, the group has been lauded for particular percussion elements ranging from a simple suitcase to a maple syrup bucket.
photos courtesy of the band’s Facebook page
Moreover, the group, which once played as many as 250 live shows annually, has performed in 38 countries and counting.
“I have been told [by relatives] that every Peyton always has been adventuresome,” Reverend Peyton said.
“I just believe,” he said, “that I was put on this earth to play slide guitar.”
Breezy Peyton once described the part country, part artsy Brown County crowd this way: “Most of the people here can both paint a picture and skin a deer.”
Truth be told, Reverend Peyton knows hard work—and hard knocks. When debilitating hand issues kept him from playing guitar in his younger years, he worked for a time as a hotel desk clerk. Later, after surgery via specialists at the Indiana Hand Center, his picking style was born.
Since that time, the ensemble has amassed a collection of popular tunes that group members say are best heard in a live, energetic setting. Some of those songs include “Raise a Little Hell,” “Clap Your Hands,” “Ways and Means,” “Pot Roast and Kisses, “ and “Poor Until Payday.”
That last title is more than just a song. The Peytons experienced some pretty lean years in the beginning.
Nowadays, the group gets to perform worldwide and for huge audiences.
Rev joked about the “pressure” of spending nearly all his time—at work and at home—with his wife, whom he met at 19. The couple recently celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary.
“The secret to a lasting relationship is to marry your best friend,” he said, adding that she often accompanies him on his fishing excursions.
“I want her with me,” he said. “Besides, she brings me good luck.”
He scarcely can imagine any other pursuit in his life at this point.
While looking back before all the current success one might wonder what kind of desk clerk might Reverend Peyton have become if the musical muse had not smiled upon him? He fishes for an answer. “I think,” he said finally, “that I would have been a very unhappy one.”
For tickets to the Nov. 7 Amplify Nashville concert featuring openers Sami Riggs, Honey White, and Slow Gin contact the Brown County Music Center box office (812) 988-5323 or visit browncountymusiccenter.com