A Bushel About Peck

I am a huge RuPaul’s Drag Race fan! On my millionth rewatch of Season 7, (the season that launched the careers of fan favorites Katya and Trixie Mattel), I did the usual Gen Z habit of going on to their social media accounts and commenced with a little stalking. I noticed Mattel, a musician who has topped the charts in folk music, had recently released a cover of one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, “Jackson”. As Mattel took the role of June Carter for this duet, Johnny was none other than masked country musician, Orville Peck. I had never heard Peck’s music before and immediately fell in love with his voice, a rugged mix of an Elvis and Roy Orbison classic sound.

Peck was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and, as a child, started his career in voiceover work. After training in ballet and performing in musical theater, Peck went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He self produced his debut album "Pony”, which was released in 2019.

“I wanted to find…who is a gay [person] who [would] even know this song?” said Mattel behind the scenes of the “Jackson” music video shoot, “cause normally when we’re in the car and I get the aux cable my gay friends basically kick me out of the vehicle. But…Orville has a deep reverence for…old school country music, as do I”. Mattel and Peck are breaking the “rules” for what many think country music represents: “I think Orville and I see eye to eye about being queer people and playing this type of music…you’re taking this sort of maybe not traditionally gay thing and I mean listen Orville and I, we can make it gay”. And in his solo career, Orville is doing exactly that.

This year at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival, I sought out Orville Peck at the Gobi tent on day 3. He performed all of my favorite songs, including “C’mon Baby Cry” and “Legends Never Die” (originally recorded with Shania Twain). But it was his fan favorite “Dead of Night '' that stopped me and the rest of the crowd cold. “I wanted it to have a very specific sound, I wanted it to have a sense of the past, and something we all know -- like, we can see references and relate to it -- but I also wanted it to feel new” said Peck discussing his composition in a 2019 interview with “The Boot”. He went on: “I think that's kind of the benchmark for what I wanted this album to be: I wanted it to be familiar to people so they could connect with it, but also like it was from a new perspective”. The song was also featured in the popular HBO show “Euphoria”.

Pairing country music with his own experiences as a gay individual, Peck is creating a brand new audience. His new album “Bronco” (released last month), tells stories of love and loss. Peck himself is a “Bronco running wild” cause boy, he is on fire and an entertainer that has a brilliant future ahead of him!

By Rio

Listen to more Orville Peck below!

https://open.spotify.com/artist/46auOkH1pk28rWrSoUNhLo

Read More: Story Behind the Song: Orville Peck, 'Dead of Night' | https://theboot.com/orville-peck-dead-of-night-lyrics/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral