Orville Peck Releases New Single ALREADY GONE Ahead of MULE Album
The song arrives with a music video and precedes a tour stop at the Hollywood Bowl.
Orville Peck has released ALREADY GONE, the latest single from his upcoming album MULE, accompanied by a new music video. The song depicts the moment the country artist entered rehab, part of what the singer describes as a chronological account of his journey through addiction and recovery. MULE is set for release via Warner Records.
'Already Gone' is one of the more rowdy songs on the project, though the feel-good mood masks some darker feelings, capturing the moment Peck enters rehab. Mule arrives September 18 on Warner Records.
'Already Gone' lands early in the album's story, when I first entered the rehab facility. I accepted the decision to seek treatment but deep down I believed I didn't have a problem. The video reflects my arrogant mindset as I picture the experience as a lighthearted musical, while in reality, I was in total crisis' says Peck.
Produced by Jay Joyce (Patty Griffin, Eric Church) and written by Peck with Jacob Portrait (Alex G, Porches), 'Already Gone' gets its swaggering brightness and infectious clap-along joy from Peck's ace five-piece band, while bluegrass luminaries Molly Tuttle and Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show), plus Ry Jennings, lend their gifts to the reverie-like bridge.
For his part, Peck struts and strides over the upbeat instrumentation, sounding downright triumphant as he shouts, 'Ohh-hoo! Put me in the slammer!' But the verses nod to some heavier truths and complex emotions: 'Lonesome heart by design, broken head in decline / Telling anyone who'll listen, it'll all be fine / Just one more man at the end of his line.'
The 'Already Gone' video vividly brings the song's central contrast to life, finding Peck whiling away the hours in a rehab facility. The visual shows the difficult day-to-day work of getting sober: therapy sessions, urine tests, an endless parade of tiny paper pill cups. But in other moments, the visual tips into gloriously choreographed fantasy as orderlies clap and shimmy in time, fellow residents twist and twirl, and Peck is joined by his band in the dayroom. Noah Cyrus, Allison Russel and Cathy Cooper make their third appearance in their re-occurring roles as the three figments of Orville's mind.
Afterward, the clip ends with an important message, directing any viewers who are struggling or in crisis — or know someone else who is — to contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or The Trevor Project (for LGBTQ+ youth) by texting 'START' to 678-678.
Peck announced Mule last month. He first shared 'Prologue (Eulogy Of A Man Turned Mule),' which features vocals and appearances by Cyrus, Russel and Emmylou Harris (who is played by Cathy Cooper in the video). In the song's video, the trio Don Black veils and nurse uniforms (in brief cut-aways to the 'Already Gone' rehab facility) as they sing Peck's would-be eulogy. It's a beautifully bleak ending that, it turns out, represents a beginning.
As Peck recently shared in an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone, Mule unfolds as a timeline of the year that reshaped his life, starting with a moment in which he nearly lost everything. The result, according to the magazine, is 'his best, most realized, album yet.'
Told with unflinching honesty, humor, and heart, Mule finds Peck confronting love, loss, and identity through songs that move fluidly between classic country storytelling, bluegrass, and expansive Americana.
Ahead of the album's release, Peck will give fans an intimate first look at Mule at San Francisco's Castro Theatre on September 12. During the special evening, Peck and his band will perform the album in its entirety and discuss the deeply personal story behind its creation.
On September 18, Peck will headline the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The North American Man Turned Mule Tour, promoted by Live Nation, will continue through November 22 in Huntington, New York, with Nashville singer-songwriter Abbie Callahan joining the tour beginning October 28.
Additionally, $1 from every ticket sold on the North American Man Turned Mule Tour will be donated to The Trevor Project, supporting its mission to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ young people.
Peck also released the single 'Too Little, Too Late,' which hails from the redemptive back half of the set and finds him dancing toward the finish line. The country-pop banger embodies what it feels like to be finally secure with who you are — and is also about having moved on when your ex comes crawling back after you've healed. It came with an appropriately raucous video.
With Mule on the horizon, Peck turns his gaze inward, reckoning not only with his deeply personal past, but with the divide between the larger-than-life persona of Orville Peck and the man behind the mask.
Orville Peck's Man Turned Mule Tour
Sep 12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre (Mule Release Show)
Sep 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
Sep 23 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn *
Sep 26 – Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater *
Oct 28 – Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24
Oct 29 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues Anaheim
Oct 30 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Nov 01 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
Nov 03 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
Nov 04 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
Nov 05 – Milwaukee, WI @ Landmark Credit Union Live
Nov 07 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
Nov 09 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
Nov 10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
Nov 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
Nov 13 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
Nov 14 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
Nov 15 – Nashville, TN @ The Truth
Nov 17 – Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
Nov 18 – Ottawa @ Hard Rock Ottawa
Nov 19 – Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
Nov 21 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Nov 22 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
* Abbie Callahan not appearing on these dates
Peck is also scheduled to hold an album event at San Francisco's Castro Theatre and to headline a performance at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the Man Turned Mule tour launching this fall.
Photo Credit: Gordon Nicholas
Photo Credit: Gordon Nicholas