Orville Peck is a South African country musician based in Canada.
He is one of very few famous examples of a gay male country singer. His vocal style has been compared to Elvis Presley, Chris Isaak, and Roy Orbison.
Discography
- Pony (2019)
- Show Pony (2020)
- Bronco (2022)
Tropes:
- Break Up Song:
- "Turn To Hate" and "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)" are fairly traditional ones.
- "Dead of Night" is, according to Peck, about an unsustainable romance where neither of the partners can give the other what they want, but it makes the inevitable no less sadder.
- "Drive Me, Crazy" strongly implies the narrator's partner leaves them behind in the end.
- The Cover Changes the Gender: His cover of Bobbie Gentry's "Fancy" makes an interesting use of this trope, implying that Fancy is a trans woman.Starin' back from the lookin' glass/ there stood a woman where a half-grown boynote had stood.
- Drag Queen: The music video for "Queen of the Rodeo" features drag performers Thanks Jem and Louisianna Purchase.
- Gay Cowboy: His music, iconography, and public persona feature queered versions of cowboy and western aesthetics, with a lot of references to Tom of Finland.
- Kayfabe Music: "Orville Peck" is a pseudonym, and he's never seen in public without a Lone Rider mask. He's also claimed his music is autobiographical, but how much of it is true is up for debate.
- Mind Screw: Many of his music videos are influenced by David Lynch, and it shows - with almost-there narratives that are full of symbolism, but no real explanation.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Old River" clocks in at just a minute and two seconds.
- Proud Beauty: From "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)" contains this quip: "I've got a face of gold/ I've got a heart of coal/ But baby, that's my cross to bear."
- Whip of Dominance: "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)" makes prominent use of a whip, and given it is a Break Up Song about never getting back together with the narrator's ex mixed with Orville's usual themes of Gay Cowboy and BDSM, it's likely it's just as much an affirmation that they reject their ex forcefully as much as it is a cowboy cliche.
