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

- SIMON LEWSEN

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?