A moment in the Florida Keys can be enough to convince a day tripper or internationally performing group to keep returning.
“I’ve played all over this world, all over the Caribbean, all over everywhere,” musician Reverend Peyton said. When fans or other travelers ask Reverend about all his destinations, he singles out Key West as his favorite.
“We just love it. And some of it is probably a little bit of that nostalgia from that first time we went. But it really is just a special place and it’s always been kind of a respite for weirdos and artists and I love it.”
Now, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band will return to the Key West Theater on March 21, with “Brother Jacob” Powell, “Washboard” Breezy Peyton, and of course, the Reverend Peyton for acclaimed “front-porch blues.”
As the group returned again and again to the island, they started off playing wherever they could. All the while growing a base of fans and friends who had come to know the musicians through their concerts and outings that included parties at Coconut Mallory and time on the water. The latter being an activity that Peyton has devoted considerable time to both in the Keys and abroad.
One of the things Peyton loves the most about fishing is an adage he heard, learned, and readily shares: you can catch a fish and you can eat the fish or you can catch a fish and release a fish and you’ve taught it a lesson.
And he is full of lessons and experiences that have shaped his songwriting and performances. Music can, perhaps more than anything else, according to Peyton, remind us that live music is one of the last bastions of that real community and connection he often talks about. Something that he thinks is at risk of being lost.
He describes music in real time as primal. “It’s ancient, it’s as old as language, maybe older. And I think it’s very important, maybe more important now than it ever has been.”
Some of what the audience can look forward to at the upcoming Big Damn Band show will include songs from the group’s recent full-length record, “Honeysuckle,” the most acoustic record the band has made in years.
The trio will also take to the stage with a mix of tracks from earlier records and unreleased songs, some of which may be headed for the band’s next album. It will be a show that Peyton thinks will serve longtime fans and newer listeners. He likes to ensure that the audience feels that there is enough to satiate their need for the nostalgic and the novel. But as an artist who gets bored with older material, Peyton is always looking to break new ground.
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
March 21 | 8 p.m.
The Key West Theater
BigDamnBand.com
