The pandemic proved to be a difficult time for Reverend Peyton. First and foremost, there was quite a scare when his wife (and washboard player in Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band), Breezy, fell ill soon after the country shut down.

Peyton doesn’t know for sure if Breezy had COVID or pneumonia. But she had it bad.

“She had a 102 temperature for over a month. It was unbelievable. And her lungs will be permanently scarred. She has been going to get treatment at a lung COVID center. She’ll have lingering effects from being sick,” Peyton said in a recent phone interview.

After a few scary weeks, Breezy recovered, while Peyton suspects he had a milder bout with COVID that left him feeling foggy for several months.

What was also unsettling was whether the band, which also includes drummer Max Senteney, and its road crew would be able to stay intact through the pandemic.

“I told Breezy at the beginning, I said, man, if everybody goes and gets a different job, they’re going to start getting back to landscaping or whatever they’re going to do, then we’re not going to have a band,” he said. “We’re going to lose our crew and our band.”

Peyton, though, figured out ways to keep enough money coming in. He set up a Patreon account in which fans donated money for a variety of special band items and the group played monthly livestream shows that also generated funds.

If serious health issues and career uncertainty made life hard during the pandemic, one thing that came easily was new music, in the form of the stirring studio album “Dance Songs For Hard Times.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much come forth so fast that was so good, right that in such a short period of time,” he said. “It just felt like there was this whole record that was pouring out of me.”

Peyton and his bandmates figure to showcase a good number of the “Dance Songs” tunes on the tour, which makes a stop Saturday at the Hot Rod Rock & Rumble at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain. But the show might come with a few surprises too. “It definitely is going to be pulling from (‘Dance Songs’) for certain, but at the same time, there’s enough time in the set that we can sprinkle stuff in from a lot of other records, too,” Peyton said.

“And then also, too, I like to put stuff in the set that you can only see if you come to the show, things that aren’t on any record. I think that’s sort of a bonus for the people that are coming out and paying that full ticket price to see the show.”

The Hot Rod Rock & Rumble runs Thursday through Sunday at the Pikes Peak International Raceway and will feature drag racing, a vintage swap meet and more.