ANAHEIM, Calif. — Country and alternative rock artist Orville Peck is joining an exclusive club of musicians that have been tapped to perform at both the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its sister Stagecoach Country Music Festival back-to-back in Indio this month.
Crossing over and playing to the vastly different audiences each festival attracts is a feat only a few have accomplished, including Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam and The Avett Brothers. Country, soul and R&B artist Yola will also perform at both festivals this year.
“It’s a beautiful compliment and also it’s exciting,” Peck said during a recent interview. “I love that my music seems to be able to crossover not only music genres, but genres of people. We do notice the sheer diversity of people in the crowd at my shows, which has always been a beautiful and obvious point to us on tour. We bring together a bunch of different people that maybe wouldn’t be in the same room typically, so that’s a great feeling.”
Peck performed at Coachella on April 17, and will return for weekend two on April 24. He’s also headlining Late Night in the Palomino, the after-party on the Palomino Stage, at Stagecoach on April 30. In between festival gigs, he’s got sold-out shows at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay in San Diego on April 25 and he’s joining country legend Tanya Tucker at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown on April 28.
Though he currently resides in Los Angeles, Peck was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and also lived in London and Toronto. But until this year, he’s never been to Coachella or Stagecoach. He said he’s heading into it mostly prepared with both new music and fresh outfits.
Peck, who is a stylish, openly gay man known for sporting a cowboy hat and an eye mask layered with fringe, is still somewhat of a mystery. He never shows his full face in public and shares very little about his personal life in interviews or on social media. He does, however, bare all in his music with his smooth, deep vocal — kind of like Elvis Presley with a bit more twang. Though primarily labeled a country artist, Peck isn’t afraid to significantly blur the lines musically by adding in elements of pop, folk, post-punk and shoegazing indie pop-rock.
His 2019 debut album, “Pony,” with the singles “Dead of Night” and “Turn to Hate,” earned him several Juno Awards. He’s also teamed up with several other artists for projects and was featured on drag queen Trixie Mattel’s EP, “Full Coverage, Vol 1,” as the pair covered Johnny and June Carter Cash’s hit “Jackson.” Peck was also one of the LGBTQ artists invited by pop star Lady Gaga to record versions of her songs for the “Born This Way the Tenth Anniversary” album, for which Peck covered the album title track. Last year, he and fellow alt-country artist Paul Cauthen formed a Righteous Brothers cover duo, dubbed the Unrighteous Brothers.
Peck’s sophomore album, “Bronco,” was released April 8. That collection of music, he insists, helped bring him out of the dark spot he was in when the pandemic began in 2020.
“I had just left a really bad situation in my personal life and I was in a very, very deep depression,” he said. “There was no touring. My work had just stopped. I was in the lowest place in my life that I had ever been, but I fell in love with writing music again in a cathartic sense rather than it just being ‘my job.’ If COVID hadn’t happened, I think my sophomore album would have been very different.”
Without the extra time the second effort wouldn’t have been as thoughtful, he explained, and he would have let the opinions of others seep into his creative process. He may have shied away from a song like “The Curse of the Blackened Eye,” which is lyrically dark and heavy, yet light-sounding, influenced by Peck listening to exotica and tiki music while writing.
“That time allowed me to go back to what I love about being an artist and just make a very, very sincere album that I kind of don’t care if someone doesn’t like it because I liked it so much,” he said.
As for his show outfits, Peck said his fashion status has been upgraded to where he’s not going to be seen performing in the same outfit twice. He’s got all new duds laid out for his festival appearances and wouldn’t reveal much more, but bold Nudie suits and lots of fringe and flair are a safe bet.
“That’s become a constant uphill battle of trying to top everything we’ve done before,” he said of his on-stage wardrobe. He’s also got a little friendly rivalry going on with fellow fashion-minded country trio Midland, who are performing on the Mane Stage at Stagecoach on April 29.
“I know those boys so well and they’re so jealous of my looks,” Peck said jokingly, noting that while he wins hands down in the style competition, the members of Midland can all pull off growing out the sweet ’80 and ’90s cowboy mustaches.
“They’ve got me on the mustache, but you know, I’ve got the fringe.”
Stagecoach Country Music Festival
When: April 29-May 1
Where: Empire Polo Club, 81-800 Avenue 51, Indio
Tickets: $379-$459 general admission passes
Information: stagecoachfestival.com
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