Have you heard of Orville Peck, the masked country singer who’s been gaining fame in the music world? He’s not a household name yet, but the artist — who has yet to show his face on stage — is working on it.
“All I ever wanted to do was be a country singer,” Peck, who’s openly gay, said in a June 2022 interview with Variety. “I finally got the courage when I was in my 20s to put all of the things I love together and just do the dang thing.”
Over the past few years, Peck has been building a fan base with recordings such as “Pony” (2019) and “Bronco” (2022), and teasing/pleasing audiences with live shows that find him wearing distinctive masks with long, swaying fringe. He performed at the Coachella, Stagecoach and Boston Calling music festivals in 2022, for example, and opened two “Harryween” shows for Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden in 2021.
Peck (not his real name) is set to perform on April 20 at Iron City in Birmingham. From what we can tell, it’s his debut performance in Birmingham — perhaps in all of Alabama — presented by Live Nation/Red Mountain Entertainment. The 8 p.m. show at Iron City, 513 22nd St. South, is listed on the venue’s website. Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 27, at 10 a.m., according to Iron City’s Facebook page. Prices are $35 in advance, general admission, plus service fees, according to Red Mountain Entertainment.
“Orville Peck is a country recording artist and songwriter known for his deep baritone voice, strong musicianship and songs that are sincere yet bold in their storytelling,” says an Eventbrite listing for the Iron City date. “Never confirming his identity, Orville, who is openly gay and lived an itinerant life, is never seen without his signature, fringed mask. Following the release of his self-produced debut album ‘Pony’ in 2019, Orville signed with Columbia Records and released his ‘Show Pony’ EP. Released to immediate critical acclaim in 2020, the EP features a duet with global icon Shania Twain and puts Orville’s triumphant songwriting skills and intentional craftsmanship on full display.
“Orville, known for his unique personal style, has collaborated with many fashion brands including but not limited to Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, Dior, Michael KORS and Pamela Love amongst others. When Orville is not performing or touring, he lends his time to activism and the causes he is committed to.”
Offstage, Peck is widely believed to be Daniel Pitout, a native of South Africa, former punk rocker and drummer for Canadian band Nü Sensae. Internet sleuths have attempted to pin down his identity in various ways, including matching Peck’s tattoos to the ones shown in photos of Pitout.
But as Peck told Variety, he’d prefer fans to focus on his music, which includes songs such as ”The Curse of the Blackened Eye,” “C’mon Baby, Cry,” “Turn to Hate,” “Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call),” “Kalahari Down” and “Legends Never Die.”
Celebrities have embraced Peck — Norman Reedus of “The Walking Dead” appears in Peck’s video for “The Curse of the Blackened Eye” and Peck performed “Cowboy Take Me Away” with Miley Cyrus for a 2021 Pride Month special — but some listeners have been slower to respond.
“I have definitely received my fair share of reluctance, skepticism and aggression because I’m a gay man in the country world,” Peck told Variety. “But I would say that it’s far less than I think people would maybe imagine. I play shows and festivals like Coachella, but we also play true-blue country festivals, the kind in red states with people that are wearing ‘Blue Lives Matter’ shirts and Trump hats.
“I go in with an open heart and open mind. A lot of times the people in the audience who I’m nervous aren’t going to accept me are dancing and singing along by the end of the show. I think the important thing that’s happening in country music at the moment is there’s so many more queer people and people that aren’t just white straight men making country music.”
