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Orville Peck has a ritual he does before every concert. He hugs and tells each member of his band, “I love you.”
And that’s what the country music star did at Madison Square Garden on June 20, 2023, at the opening of
his “Bronco” tour.
But this night was different from all the others. Just hours before the show, his team found him overdosing in his hotel room.
“It was sort of a disturbing show because me and my band were completely aware before we even stepped on stage that I was canceling the tour and I was going to rehab the next morning,” Peck tells me. “I did a shot on stage of Patron. It was contractual because they sponsored the tour. I remember taking the shot and just looking at my band and everyone just looking at me and thinking, ‘How the hell have we ended up like this?’ It was a very dark night. It was very difficult.”
It’s now a little over three years later, and a sober Peck is spending Wednesday afternoon at the Hollywood Bowl rehearsing for his headlining debut at the legendary amphitheater on Friday.
“I’ve gotten really good at compartmentalizing events like this, so I tried not thinking about it until the last few days because I’d overwhelm myself,” says Peck. “I put way too much pressure on myself, and then I actually end up not enjoying shows like if I overthink it. I’ve just started allowing myself to get excited, and I’m kind of freaking out now.”
Friday also marks the release of his new album, “Mule,” a collection of 12 tracks (plus a prologue) that chronicles his drinking and using, his time in treatment (he actually has a song called “Rehab Blues”) and his now-sober life.
“I think a big struggle for me, why my addiction ramped up so badly, was truthfully just trying to navigate these compartmentalized worlds I’d created in terms of navigating public life and being someone who suddenly there were thousands of people who had opinions about everything I did and going home and living as a normal person with problems and issues and trauma,” Peck explains.
“Mule” is his fourth studio album following “Stampede” (2024), “Bronco” (2022) and “Pony” (2019). Peck, who is never seen in public without a Western-styled mask partially covering his face, is a trailblazer in the country music world for being an out gay artist since the start of his career. He’s become a queer icon who has collaborated with Kylie Minogue, Shania Twain and Noah Cyrus. He made his Broadway debut playing the MC in “Cabaret.” Who else but Peck could get Willie Nelson to duet on “Cowboys Are Frequently Fond of Each Other,” a song about same-sex love and lust in the boots and Levi’s crowd?
“’Mule’ spoke to me because a mule is part horse, part donkey and they’re sort of bred specifically for working and they’re known for being stubborn,” Peck says. “They also have a connotation with drug trafficking … I think that’s funny.”
Peck’s longtime partner and his family have all supported his truth-telling on “Mule.” “A lot of this album is, of course, about me, but I also intended it to be a thank-you to many people and an apology to some people and an explanation to other people,” he says.
In “Ring the Bell,” Peck sings, “I love the Lakers, the Mets and the Longhorns, made out with a guy on the Raiders.” That slice of kiss-and-tell is sure to get inquiring minds digging to identify who the pro athlete is.
“I’m going to preface this by saying that I did receive permission to sing that lyric from the subject in question and he was very thrilled,” Peck says. “I told him, ‘Look, I’m gonna keep it sort of ambiguous and mysterious, but I would like to include this in this song.’ He was very, very honored.”
He continues, “I would never have done it if it were somebody who was hiding or fearful of it coming out. This person would have probably allowed me to say their name if I wanted, but I didn’t think it was necessary. People can use their own common sense and discovery to try to figure out who it may be, but that’s all I’ll say.”
For the record, Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to publicly come out as gay while playing for the Las Vegas Raiders in June 2021. Peck declines to confirm or deny Nassib was his makeout partner.
Peck first performed the entire album earlier this month during both shows of a two-night run at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre.
“Even in rehearsals, I could barely make it through some of the songs,” Peck says when I ask if he has trouble not crying while singing some of his new material. “These are very deep wounds. What better therapy is there than getting up and being able to express these songs? Then there are people listening and relating, and they’re sharing their pain. It’s a spiritual experience.”
Watch the video for Peck’s latest single “Already Gone” below.
