Orville Peck Drops New “Summertime” Single

Like many artists, queer country star Orville Peck has had to cancel his spring tour dates due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, this isn’t stopping him from releasing new music. Recently, Peck has been treating his fans to livestreams from his home featuring acoustic versions of his songs and chats with celebrity fans such as Margaret Cho and John Waters.

During one of these live streams, he debuted his new single, “Summertime,” which is his first new song since the release of his album “Pony” over a year ago.

Just yesterday, April 1, he released an official music video for the new single. The video features some seriously surreal imagery, but this was no April Fools’ joke. The video starts with Orville surrounded by rolling fields only to later be swallowed by a giant plant. He’s then reborn as a cowboy covered in colorful flowers.

“I wrote this song a long time ago, and to me, summertime has a few different meanings. Summertime can be a season, a person, or a memory of a happier time that can be difficult to visit. We also wanted the video to focus around the idea of how we treat nature,” Peck explained in a press release.

“Summertime” is the artist’s first single to be released since signing with Columbia Records. Peck is set to open Harry Styles’ Halloween shows at Madison Square Garden later this year. That same month, he’s scheduled to appear at both weekends of Coachella 2020 before performing at Goldenvoice’s country music festival Stagecoach.

Whether you’re pinning for another person, nicer weather, or simpler times, “Summertime” is the anthem for you. “Ultimately, this is a song about biding your time and staying hopeful—even if it means missing something or someone,” says Orville. If biding one’s time isn’t a solid theme for this year so far, I don’t know what is.