Pony

I read a magazine article about a new artist calling himself Orville Peck. He is openly gay, always wears a mask in public, and is a singer of country and western. I had to check him out, so I put on his debut album, Pony, and from the first few notes of reverb guitar, I was hooked.

Peck's music isn't strictly country, it is more alt-country, I suppose. Some of the other musicians you might think of while listening to him are Chris Isaak, Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, and even Slim Whitman (there's no yodeling, but there is whistling). His songs (most of them are written by him) are throwbacks to the country music of the post-war period, but with a modern sound (ooh, that guitar) that is reminiscent of '80s New Wave. I've seen some comments that he is the male version of Lana Del Rey.

Hard to say what my favorite song is, but I do have a soft spot for cowboy tunes, and "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)" sounds like the melody was written in 1880, but the lyric is a bit more contemporary:

"Racing down the road that I've been before
I've seen rattlesnakes behind every door
I've been around this world and now everything's a bore
I don't know that much, but I know about keeping score
And if there's one thing I know for sure
It'd be a long cold day in Hell when I take you back"

Most of the songs have a haunting beauty, but with a biting edge, like "Roses Are Falling":

"You know darling, you bring out the worst in me
Sometimes, when I'm around you,
I feel like pure evil
I guess they say nobody's perfect
But they've never met a devil like you"

The album closes with the heart-rending "Nothing Fades Like The Light"

"Blackened houses, morning skies on my mind
April showers, June is the same in your eyes
Something tells me, you know why I lie
But nothing fades like the light"

There is some doubt about Peck's real identity--he's like the Banksy of country artists. According to his Wikipedia article, his tattoos may have given him away, but I won't spoil that here. He's like a superhero with a secret identity, and I hope it stays that way. He's an original.