The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band March 29, Beauty Bar.

“I just want to make music and friends/Everywhere that I go/I just want to make music and friends/Been that way since I was 12 years old.” –The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, from new album So Delicious

On its last visit to Las Vegas, in which it filled Vinyl, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band made plenty of friends with its music. Most of them didn’t return for Sunday night’s show in the Beauty Bar backyard, however, strange since both The Rev and support act Leopold and His Fiction are proven Vegas draws. Even so, that didn’t stop the three-piece from rural Indiana from putting on a quality show. Their high-energy, backwoodsy, moonshine-ready music represented their roots, nestled somewhere between old-school country and lightning-fast bluegrass.

Josh Peyton is a must-see guitarist. He displayed finger-picking fury on “Front Porch Trained, and gave a history lesson on a three-string cigar-box guitar during “Easy Come Easy Go.” (The venue did him and the small crowd a disservice by not using a spotlight.) Drummer Ben “Bird Dog” Bussell creates different sounds with everything from traditional drums to a bucket. And “Washboard” Breezy Peyton is a gloved wonder, adding an entirely new dimension playing her namesake instrument in creative ways.

It could be a while before many of us set foot in Indiana again, which means the next time this great Hoosier State export hits Vegas, music lovers should seize the opportunity to support and make friends with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band again.