Strings Attached
Country music’s barrier-busting cowboy Orville Peck is tearing through 2024 with a new album, new collabs and a new outlook on life
Since releasing your debut single,
“Big Sky,” in 2018, you’ve worn a Lone Ranger mask with tassels draped over your mouth. Why remove them now?
I like change. With every album, I’ve changed my mask a little bit and shown more of my face. I’m trying to reveal more of myself, lyrically and musically. Losing the tassels forces me to be more vulnerable.
Your new project, Stampede: Vol. 1, is full of duets with artists like Elton John and Noah Cyrus. But, until this year, you’d mostly recorded solo. What made you want to collaborate?
With Stampede, I didn’t want to just have a bunch of Orville Peck songs with guests. I like to self-produce and play all the instruments, but this time, I wanted to grow. Also, the duet form is in the fibre of country music. Think of Johnny Cash and June Carter. It was clear to me that, someday, I’d do a duet project of my own. Then, recently, Willie Nelson asked me to work with him on a cover of Ned Sublette’s gay country classic, “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other.” And I thought, Okay, here we go.
If there were one person, dead or alive, you could record a duet with, who would it be, and what tune would you choose?
“Mississippi Goddam” with Nina Simone.
That’s a fiery civil rights anthem. Do you consider yourself an activist?
I grew up in a mixed family—part white, part Indian—in apartheid-era South Africa before immigrating to Canada in 2003. Protest isn’t even a decision for me. It’s second nature.
Last year, you cancelled your summer tour to work on your mental and physical health. Can you talk about what happened?
After lockdowns, I was touring as much as possible, and I hit a brick wall. I’ve always struggled with anxiety and depression. Those things tend to pop up during moments of high stress. The decision to step back wasn’t easy. I’d never cancelled a single show except during the Covid crisis. But, in 2023, I was really struggling and needed a break.
You told your fans that you’d come back in better form. Have you?
Oh, god, yes.
I’ve made a lot of changes. I started transcendental meditation. I got a dog, Queenie, whom I love. I’ve become obsessed with weightlifting. And I’ve thought more about how to conserve my spirit. I’m trying not to pursue every opportunity that comes up, professionally or personally.
You’re in your mid-30s now. Maybe growing up means not worrying so much about making it?
It’s more that I can now make peace with the fact that success eventually disappears. As an artist, I’ve had this constant fear that the thing I love could suddenly vanish. I still have that fear, but I’m trying to not lose my mind over it.
Do you want the man behind your mask to come into clearer view?
I’ve always been the same guy, no matter how much of my face I’ve shown.
Wait—Is Orville Peck not a persona? Are you literally Orville Peck?
Yes, of course. One hundred per cent.
But Orville Peck isn’t your real name. Daniel Pitout is.
Is it the name I was given at birth? No. But Bob Dylan and David Bowie aren’t known by their birth names either. Every song I’ve written is heartfelt and personal. There’s been this misconception throughout my career that I’m playing a character. It speaks to people’s tunnel vision and their inability to understand that
I can wear a mask and have a stage name and still be authentic.
The notion of authenticity is an obsession within the country scene. There’s this sense that a true country musician is a straight, jingoistic Southern white dude, which you very clearly are not.
Country has always been diverse—with Black musicians, queer musicians and references to queer culture. I happen to be a gay man, and I’m just doing what every songwriter does: writing songs about my experiences and my heartbreaks.
Before you became famous, did people ever say that you weren’t country enough?
People still say that. What they really mean is that I’m not straight. But I just recorded a song with Willie Nelson. If that isn’t country enough for you, I don’t know what is.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.