Orville Peck: Stampede review – starry duets about gay cowboy love
(Warner) Mining the American songbook and myriad styles, Peck proves a generous duettist, with Willie Nelson and Allison Russell his standout partnersYou can date country music’s position as pop’s rising force back to Lil Nas X’s inescapable Old Town Road. It began an uncomfortable conversation about homophobia and racism, and proved there’s a hunger for queer or Black country acts. Also in 2019, South African-born Orville Peck released his excellent debut Pony, yoking a magisterial baritone to beautiful torch songs about gay cowboy love. Peck is famous for his numerous masks, and during this duets collection he tries as many musical hats, roaming the American songbook, searching for sympathetic styles such as gospel, MOR, chamber country and power balladry.Midnight Ride is bright, beautiful disco with a killer chorus slightly hobbled by Kylie’s wispy contribution. She’s too obvious a choice – the song could’ve done with a Chrissie Hynde or Stevie Nicks to complement Peck’s rich vocals. Still, he’s a generous singing partner, weaving words or verses in among each guest, giving them space to shine. Willie Nelson is brilliant, bringing time-weathered wisdom to Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other, and Elton John is in fine fettle on a fun Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting). No one, though, quite matches Allison Russell’s formidable contribution to Chemical Sunset. Continue reading...
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings