Live Music with Liz Crosthwaite
Published 11 Nov 2011 09:30
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Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band at Arlington Arts Centre
On a suitably chilly and autumnal night, the Bonfire Night display marking the fifth birthday of Arlington Arts Centre was more than matched by the musical fireworks exploding inside the building, courtesy of rollicking, upbeat alt-country blues masters Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band.
Hailing all the way from Indiana, USA, the prodigious trio brought the honkytonk to Newbury, as an all-ages crowd revealed their true country-blues colours in a whooping, cavorting, joyous mess.
Had we been in a tiny bar rather than a small theatre, sweat would have been dripping from ceiling as the three-piece rolled out deceptively simple, foot-stomping grooves, with backbone drummer Cuz on kit and five gallon bucket, augmented by hip-shakingly rhythmic washboard scratching from wide-eyed Breezy, wife of the Rev. And that unholy showman, the Rev himself - with a holler that could wake the deadest of spirits - more than fulfilled his stated intention to 'freak y'all out' with his skills on the National steel guitar.
The band barely gave us time to catch breath between tunes - soulful covers of the trad-delta blues artist Charley Patton; more-is-more crowd interaction during Clap Your Hands; the punky simplicity of Your Cuz Is On Cops; a breakneck speed rendition of Mama's Fried Potatoes that left us stumbling over our feet.
The cacophonous finale of finger-picking guitar gymnastics, flailing limbs and a flaming washboard (oh yes!), sent us reeling out into the night, to the shock of a damp evening in Newbury, rather than the expected sticky Mississippi dusk.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 10 Nov 11
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