Couples Bands Caught Off Guard

Reverend and Breezy Peyton.

~story and photos by Ryan Stacy

When news of the 2020 pandemic’s severity first reached our community, many local musicians were caught off guard. John Bowyer and Jayme Hood, the couple who make up local Americana duo The Hammer & The Hatchet, had made big plans for this year. They’d just placed the order for the vinyl pressing of Road May Flood, their third full-length album, and had a tour of the Midwest set up to promote it. “We’d had a good level of success locally, and this was the year we’d stepped away from our day jobs,” Jayme says. But like so many other performers, the band was soon forced to scrap the tour and hunker down with the rest of Indiana. “I was really excited, because we hadn’t toured before. So I was saying ‘We’re not even supposed to be [home], we’re supposed to be in Illinois or Wisconsin.’”

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, the high-energy country blues act with a home in Brown County and a worldwide following, were on the road when everything changed. The night they were in Austin, Texas to play at the South by Southwest Music Festival, which features over 2,000 live performances, it was cancelled. “It was like a funeral in that town,” remembers frontman Josh “Reverend” Peyton. “People were so bummed,” adds his bandmate and wife Breezy. “We knew it was pretty serious then. And then we wondered if our other shows were going to start falling off.” The band continued their tour, making it as far as Chicago before calling it quits and heading home.

The adjustment to being suddenly grounded was a rough one for the Peytons, who typically spend most of the year on tour. “The first month was the worst. We were sitting at home alone, I was too scared to even go to the grocery store. I was a nervous wreck,” says the Rev. The beginning of the shutdown saw The Hammer & The Hatchet grind to a halt as well. After their tour was cancelled, Jayme found her well of songwriting ideas had inexplicably run dry. “The first few months were really silent. There was a lot of ‘Hold up. What does this mean? What do I do?’” she says.

Both bands hung on to their hopes that they could pick things up again shortly. But as the months wore on, the reality of the situation sank in. Along with everyone else, the company pressing their new record was closed, so The Hammer & The Hatchet had nothing to sell online. John and Jayme couldn’t rehearse with the musicians in their backing band, and they couldn’t even play at jam sessions at friends’ homes. And the Peytons, in addition to their cancelled summer dates, had another big damn problem: their road crew and other people who depended on them financially. “When I’m standing up onstage with a microphone, there’s a whole lot of people standing behind me you don’t see,” the Rev explains. “I don’t want anyone to lose their house.”

But in true Brown County fashion, the two bands refused to allow a streak of bad luck to make them give up. Soon they’d stepped up their internet game, offering more livestreams of their performances; the Peytons put more work into Hard Times and Weirdness, a podcast they’d created to build their connection with fans. And both bands were writing material again, even incorporating their feelings and experiences during the pandemic into some of their songwriting.

By summer 2020, their vinyl had arrived, and The Hammer & The Hatchet began to get offers to play at re-opening local venues. Though they were eager to get back onstage, they knew they had to strike the balance between opportunity and safety. “I ask a lot of questions. We talk about [safety] terms a lot before we come in,” Jayme says about accepting a gig. John cites the outdoor stage at Nashville’s Hard Truth Hills as an example of the good safety practices. “Everybody’s terraced away from you, up a hill. It’s a cool space,” he says.

Jayme Hood and John Bowyer The Hammer & The Hatchet.

As strange—and difficult—as these times have been, some unexpected new doors have opened. “There have been some silver linings to this,” the Rev acknowledges. The Big Damn Band was able to write a new album during the shutdown, and he says it’s his best yet. The Band’s Patreon account, which offers online bonus content to their most devoted fans, has kept his operations afloat. And being home has allowed the Rev to spend valuable time with his parents, who are both navigating their own health issues. John and Jayme say their extended time on their beautiful wooded property has been good for The Hammer & The Hatchet’s music. John says, “Being able to relax and take walks here has been really good. Some good new songs have come out of that.”

The bands say that although they don’t know when things will return to normal, their number-one priority is being ready for whatever happens. “Uncertainty has caused us to give up on 2020,” says the Rev. “But we’re sowing seeds this year. They’re gonna grow to big giant oak trees next year.” The support of an arts-focused community like Nashville is a big help too, says Jayme. “Our strength is in our network here. We’ve got a really special community of people who want to help.”

More about The Hammer & The Hatcher can be found at <thehammerandthehatchet.com>. More about The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band can be found at <bigdamnband.com>.