Peyton Tochterman

Peyton Tochtermans story begins in Aldie, Virginia, a small rural town where as he describes the mill doesnt run, we had a small country store, a church that no one went to, Buzzys gas station that hasnt had pumps since before I was born, and a post office.   The towns still there, Peyton is not.  

 But his songwriting delves deep into this kind of American rural upbringing.    As Ellis Paul puts it, "Peyton Tochterman has an old souls gift for writing the ageless, earthy songs that define what is best about American Music. His songs carry the weighty truths that make life less of a burden for those who hear them."  Peytons songs reach deep into the rural landscape of America and dont just talk about the beauty and light of our country, or our relationships with others, but also about the often disenfranchised, darker culture of the American reality- both spiritually and economically.   

 6 On The Square comments that  Tochterman's soulful, pastoral verging on sultry, and often refreshing sound hints at the rocker lying beneath the surface. At times, you'll hear Springsteen or Mellencamp peeking through in his songs. Give him a guitar and harmonica, and then let his raspy, gritty voice comfortably take hold and wrap you in his warmth.  Most of his characters in his songs are dreamers and revolutionaries, who have never escaped their town (or head), or if they did, never found what they were looking for and ended up right back on the barstool where they got the idea to leave in the first place.   

His debut national release A New World exhibits these characters and more.   From heart churning ballads to story songs, Tochterman is a skillful song poet(Maverick Magazine) and as Vintage Guitar Player puts it, Tochtermans fingerpicked acoustic demands attention, showing as much backbone on lovely ballads like Smile as on the comedic Always Tochterman stands alone (solo) just fine, particularly on cuts like God And Country.  

 In 2007, while trying to establish himself as a staple of Virginia based songwriters, Peyton had a 9-foot Steinway piano collapse onto him and then spent 4 months on his back recovering from spinal cord surgery.  It was then that Tochterman rededicated himself to the kind of uncompromising songwriting that deals with the hard and sometimes brutal reality of the internal and external struggles of the American man.  Yet in his songs he also finds light and peace in the mess of it all.   

 In 2012 Tochterman was hired by The State Department of The United Stated to travel to war torn Afghanistan as A Cultural Ambassador for Music where he performed for not only members of the US Military and our coalition forces, but also for and with local Afghans.   He was the first American (and likely the last) to ever perform at The Citadel in Herat built by Alexander The Great in 330 B.C.  The state department described his work while abroad as doing more for diplomacy between Afghanistan and The United States than anything else we have done.  As one LT. Col. in the Marines who was at his show told him, You made our job easier today, referring to Tochtermans concert where he invited 8 Afghan musicians to perform with him on stage.  This is the kind of thing that will truly resonate throughout the culture here.   Tochtermans music resonates for sure. 

Peyton had the privilege of singing our countries National Anthem at The Marine Corps Museum at Quantico for a host of American heroes.     He has shared the stage with Levon Helm, Darrell Scott, Chris Knight, Mark Erelli, Cheryl Wheeler, Robert Earl Keen, Jason Isbell, Richard Buckner, Sons of Bill, and Gary Sinise among others. 

 Peyton is a Virginian.   He is an American.  As did Tochterman, his songs begin and take route in the rural south, but reach far out into the world.  At the end of the day you can trust that his songwriting is honest, bold, and uncompromising.  Nothing is going to change that.