If you've ever had to make a few bucks stretch until glorious payday, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has a song for you. "Poor Until Payday," which Wide Open Country is premiering today, is from the band's upcoming album of the same name. The rowdy and joyous country-blues track is all about looking forward to cashing in and easing your mind, if only for a few days or one great night on the town.
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"When I get my money right/ you and me, we going out all night," Reverend Peyton sings in his signature booming growl. "When I get my stacks up, I'm gonna buy you all the finest stuff."
And while the song's message is simple on the surface, lead singer and guitarist Reverend Peyton says the song reflects a payday in the grander sense and the hope that we'll all be rewarded for the good works that we do. Through that lens, the song takes on an almost spiritual tone.
"At its face value, it's sort of easier to understand. It's just about being broke until payday comes. It's actually something my mom said to me that inspired that song. My mom has tons of good old school quips, but she was talking about being poor until payday and I was thinking about that," Peyton tells Wide Open Country. "But the other thing for me and the reason the whole record is named after the song is because it's almost like a bigger thing. It's not just about payday at the end of the week. It's waiting on that real payday to come. So that's what it is for me. And that's what the song is kind of about, too."
With the Reverend's wife Breezy Peyton on vocals and washboard and Max Senteney on drums, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band is known for their dynamic and high-energy shows. On October 5, the group will release Poor Until Payday, their second album on their own Family Owned Records label.
Reverend Peyton-produced album was recorded at Farm Fresh Studios in Bloomington, Ind. and promises to bring the sound of old school-blues to the modern era.
"For the last year or so I've got really into 45 RPM records and that era of American music and really almost all genres. So that kind of inspired this record," Peyton says. "I just wanted it to feel as exciting as those 45s feel. There's just something about that era of American music that just feels exciting."
Peyton said it was important to the band to stay true to the sound and feel of those early recordings.
"There's hardly anything on this record --any technology-- newer than 1959," Peyton says. "The main effect you hear on this record is analog tape saturation. We wanted this to sort of be true to an earlier era of recording."
Peyton, who grew up idolizing blues legends like Charlie Patton, Lightin' Hopkins and Bukka White, is adamant about helping to preserve the early sounds of a genre that has influenced everything from hip hop to country.
"Every single genre of truly American music has been influenced by blues music," Peyton says. "American music as a whole --you cannot separate it from the blues. There's no way you can do it."
