Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Mama's Fried Potatoes/Can't Pay The Bill

(For The Record, March 5, 2009)

Single review

Genuine man of religion the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band kicks off 'Mama's Fried Potatoes' with a straightforward enough sentiment - "I wanna thank you all for the food you made us/But it don't hold a candle to mama's fried potatoes".

Then, like the house band in Deliverance, there follows a pounding old rendering of some good-natured, down-home, country-tinged blues.

The uncomplicated lyric is brought with gusto by the vocalist Reverend, as he grinds his gravel voice over the top of some nifty slide guitar and washboard, courtesy of his wife, Washboard Breezy.

A band with a backstory to rival Kyser Soze, there's quite a following for the Rev, his wife and his brother Jayme on drums in their native States. 'Mama's Fried Potatoes/Can't Pay The Bill' is the debut single in the UK, and brings the very essence of the band alive for a nation who have about as much experience of this side of America as Paris Hilton.

'Can't Pay The Bill' is a stringpicking affair with stomping percussion. The washboard makes its presence known, and the whole ethos of the song is very much in keeping with the money problems which seem to be knocking on everyone's door these days, making the Reverend a very shrewd recording artiste indeed.

With the current vogue for stripped-back blues as offered by Seasick Steve, there's a bright shiny future indeed for Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. Quite a blessing.