Somewhere Ted Nugent is weeping with joy. For now, there is a working shotgun that doubles as a guitar. Or, perhaps, there’s a working guitar that doubles as a shotgun. It depends on a person’s priorities. Either way, the customized contraption is joyously wielded by Indiana country blues musician Reverend Peyton, leader of a three-piece outfit called the Big Damn Band, in a brief demonstration video that is both stupefying and impressive. The device was conceived by Peyton himself, who then had it custom built by “expert custom pickup designer” Bryan Fleming. Clad in a red flannel shirt, blue jeans, and a furry hunting cap, the bearded Peyton sits outdoors on a wooden bench, playing a blistering, bluesy solo on his shotgun guitar to the accompaniment of hand claps off camera. Then, almost without missing a beat, he aims and fires the instrument at what appears to be a plastic container full of water. After hitting his target dead on, he goes right back to his guitar solo. It’s the ultimate in musical multitasking. Play a little, shoot a little, etc.
Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band has concerts coming up in California, Indiana, and Florida, among other places, in the coming weeks. It doesn’t seem likely that the shotgun guitar will be incorporated into those shows, though with the YouTube video accumulating over three quarters of a million views in just a few days, it’s certain that people will ask about the unusual instrument. The possibilities of the shotgun guitar have not yet fully been explored. Maybe a cover of Frank Zappa’s “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama” is in order.