Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band

Honeysuckle

Family-Owned Records

To cut Honeysuckle, his Big Damn Band’s 12th album, the colorful and burly Rev. Peyton played a vintage National Steel in front of the fireplace in the rural Kentucky home he shares with his wife, the equally colorful “Washboard” Breezy. Breezy scrapes her board here and there, and Jacob “The Snakob” Powell thumps a few old drums, one of them a five-gallon plastic bucket filled with spare parts. If that all doesn’t elicit a vision of a set of raw, visceral country blues songs going down even before the needle even drops, I don’t know what would.

When the needle does light up these grooves, electrified shivers ensue, your senses stunned.

The Rev., honored by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a Kentucky Colonel, sings as if possessed by the spirits of the music’s progenitors. He defines in every gnarled, haunted lyric their passion and pain. Peyton became addicted to the music as a kid, hellbent on playing it his way. His story, and his success, screams literally through this equal mix of new Peyton originals and old warhorses.

Peyton begins the album by himself, proving through his original title song that he can play the hell out of that National, and that he is one riveting yet melodic raconteur. The eternal blues theme of “trouble” is right at home in his hands.

A feverish run through Robert Johnson’s “If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day” turns a classic on its ear. In contrast, Peyton’s brilliant gospel blues “Looking for a Manger” features the glorious voices of the McCrary Sisters in harmony. Breezy’s washboard calls forth the swish of a magi’s horse’s reigns, or chains rattling. Two ways to look at that from my perspective, both chilling. The near-frenzied “Like a Treasure,” another original, then celebrates love and togetherness with a beat that cannot be beat.

Chicago blues harp son Billy Branch adds his tuneful wafting to an alarming take of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Nell (Prison Cell Blues),” and bluegrass fiddler Michael Cleveland helps lift “Freeborn Man” to two-steppin’ heaven, the jamming that follows just wonderful.

Famed for their tent-revival-like shows, and often cited as one of the greatest front porch blues bands in the world, The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band has made huge strides over the last 20 years. On Honeysuckle, they create the kind of ruckus that ensures that the country blues will live on with righteous fervor and ingenuity alike.

Tom Clarke for MAS

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