The new album from Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band was written by candlelight and then recorded using the best technology available…in the 1950s.
But listeners won’t find another album as relevant, electrifying and timely as Dance Songs for Hard Times.
Scheduled for independent release on April 9th via Thirty Tigers, Dance Songs for Hard Times conveys the hopes and fears of pandemic living. Far from a depressing listen, Dance Songs lives up to its name by delivering action-packed riffs and rhythms across 11 songs. The country blues trio that won over crowds on more than one Warped Tour knows how to make an audience move.
“I like songs that sound happy but are actually very sad,” Peyton says. “I don’t know why it is, but I just do.”
Of course, the greatest front-porch blues band in the world found itself sidelined from a relentless touring schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic. Peyton says he was surprised when his mind and soul unleashed a batch of new songs in March and April of 2020.
“I think it was the stress of everything,” he says. “At the time, we were watching everything we know crash down. I didn’t know what was going to happen with our career, with our house, with food, with anything.”
Peyton wasn’t alone in uncertainty. It’s a feeling that gripped the world. Added to Peyton’s concerns were a lingering illness — perhaps undiagnosed COVID-19 — affecting “Washboard” Breezy Peyton, his wife and Big Damn Band member, as well as a cancer diagnosis for his father. A metaphorical wallop arrived when unpredictable weather in the rustic wilds of Southern Indiana knocked out power at the Peytons’ 150-year-old log cabin. For multiple days.
While Breezy rested and recovered, Peyton crafted songs in near darkness.
To document the livewire immediacy of Dance Songs for Hard Times, the Big Damn Band — including a healthy Breezy — made a pandemic road trip to Nashville to record with producer Vance Powell(four-time Grammy Award winner whose resume includes work with Chris Stapleton and Jack White).
Peyton embraced Powell’s suggestion to turn back the clock and record no more than eight tracks of audio to analog tape. Minimal overdubs are heard on Dance Songs for Hard Times, and Peyton sang while playing guitar live in the studio.
As 2020 progressed, Peyton’s father was declared free of cancer following surgery. A new Patreonpage helped the band connect with fans and make up some lost wages.
And Big Damn Band supporters around the world check in monthly for pay-what-you-can livestream performances that originate at the Peytons’ log cabin.
Conditions aren’t ideal when compared to pre-pandemic adventures that allowed the Big Damn Band to play for audiences in nearly 40 countries. But those days will return, and in the meantime we have Dance Songs for Hard Times.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “Too Cool to Dance,” a track that might be interpreted as the album’s centerpiece for its message of not taking things for granted. Delivering a rockabilly punch, the anthemic tune urges the listener to make the most out of the moment and hit the dance floor. While the song undoubtedly references a feeling we will all embrace as soon as we possibly can, the real star of the show is Peyton’s blistering finger picking that draws explosive inspiration from Chuck Berry. His feisty, hard-hitting sound comes from a 1954 Supro Dual Tone electric guitar. Once known exclusively for playing acoustic guitar in the country-blues tradition of Mississippi icons Charley Patton and Bukka White, Peyton has seemingly migrated north and plugged in with Chicago giants Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. Ultimately, this is a tune about letting go and having a damn good time that also shows the rock and roll side of this talented trio.
“I was thinking about all the times where I’ve been somewhere and felt too cool to dance,” Rev. Peyton says. “I didn’t want to be that way. Not being able to do anything last year, I had this feeling of, ‘Man, I’m not going to waste any moment like this in my life — ever.’ ”
WATCH:
Dance Songs for Hard Times is out April 9th and the band even has some shows coming up…
On sale now:
4/15/2021 Nashville, TN City Winery – outdoors
4/22/2021 Kansas City, MO Knuckleheads – outdoors
4/23/2021 Columbia, MO Rose Park – outdoors
4/24/2021 St Louis, MO Big Top – outdoors
5/15/2021 Oak Hill, WV New River Gorge Festival – outdoors
5/21/2021 Cincinnati, OH Riverfront Live – outdoors
5/22/2021 Indianapolis, IN Hi Fi Annex – outdoors
Get tickets here: https://www.bigdamnband.com/shows/
