Orville Peck on His New Album ‘Mule,’ Battling Addiction and Making Out With a Pro Football Player

Orville Peck follows a pre-show tradition: he embraces every member of his band and expresses his love for them. That custom was observed on June 20, 2023, when his Bronco tour kicked off at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Yet that evening stood apart from all others. Mere hours before the performance, his crew discovered him overdosing in his hotel room. "It was a disturbing show because my band and I knew before we walked on stage that I was pulling the plug on the tour and checking into rehab the following morning," Peck remembers. "I took a shot of Patron on stage—it was required because they sponsored the tour. I recall doing the shot, looking at my band, everyone staring back at me, all thinking, 'How did we get here?' It was an extremely dark night. Extremely hard." The Garden, which debuted in 1879 and ranks among the globe's most celebrated arenas, has staged countless iconic performances—but for Peck, that date lingers as a grim waypoint on his path to sobriety. As Dr. Elena Marsh, an addiction specialist at NYU Langone, told me, "Performers often hit their lowest point precisely when their careers appear to be peaking—the pressure of public expectation can accelerate substance abuse rather than curb it."

About three years afterward, a clean-and-sober Peck is at the Hollywood Bowl on a Wednesday afternoon, preparing for his first-ever headlining slot at the legendary amphitheater that Friday. "I've become skilled at compartmentalizing events like this, so I attempted not to dwell on it until the final days, because I'd otherwise overwhelm myself," Peck explains. "I put far too much pressure on myself, and then I wind up not enjoying shows when I overthink them. I've finally started letting myself feel excited, and right now I'm kind of losing my mind." The Bowl, which opened in 1922 with nearly 18,000 seats, has welcomed everyone from The Beatles to Beyoncé, cementing its status as one of America's most prestigious musical stages. For someone who once questioned whether he'd live through the night, walking onto that platform amounts to a deeply personal triumph.

Friday also brings the arrival of his new record, Mule, a 12-track project (plus a prologue) that documents his drinking and drug use, his stint in treatment—there's even a number titled "Rehab Blues"—and his current sober life. "A major struggle for me, the reason my addiction escalated so severely, was honestly just trying to juggle these compartmentalized worlds I'd built—navigating public life as someone who suddenly had thousands of people with opinions about everything I did, then coming home and living as an ordinary person with problems, issues and trauma," Peck says. Mule is his fourth studio album, arriving after Stampede (2024), Bronco (2022) and Pony (2019).

Peck, who never appears in public without a Western-style mask concealing part of his face, has been a trailblazer in country music as an openly gay artist since day one of his career. He's become a queer icon who has collaborated with Kylie Minogue, Shania Twain and Noah Cyrus, and he made his Broadway debut as the MC in Cabaret. Who else but Peck could persuade Willie Nelson to duet on "Cowboys Are Frequently Fond of Each Other," a song about same-sex love and desire among the boots-and-Levi's crowd? "Mule resonated with me because a mule is part horse, part donkey—bred specifically for labor and famous for being stubborn," Peck says. "They also carry a connotation with drug trafficking … I find that amusing."

Peck's longtime partner and his family have all supported his candor on Mule. "Much of this album is, naturally, about me, but I also meant it as a thank-you to many people, an apology to some and an explanation to others," he says. In "Ring the Bell," Peck sings, "I love the Lakers, the Mets and the Longhorns, made out with a guy on the Raiders." That frank disclosure will undoubtedly ignite speculation about the professional athlete's identity. "Let me preface this by saying I obtained permission to sing that lyric from the person in question, and he was absolutely thrilled," Peck says. "I told him, 'Look, I'm going to keep it ambiguous and mysterious, but I'd like to include this in the song.' He was deeply honored." He continues, "I would never have done it if this were someone hiding or afraid of it coming out. This person probably would have let me say his name if I'd wanted, but I didn't feel it was necessary. People can use their own common sense and research to figure out who it might be, but that's all I'll say." For background: Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay while playing for the Las Vegas Raiders in June 2021. Peck won't confirm or deny whether Nassib was his makeout partner.

Peck premiered the full album earlier this month across two nights at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, a historic 1922 movie palace that has long functioned as a cultural anchor for the LGBTQ+ community. "Even during rehearsals, I could hardly get through some of the songs," Peck admits when asked if he fights back tears performing the new material. "These are very deep wounds. What better therapy exists than getting up and expressing these songs? Then there are people listening and relating, sharing their own pain. It's a spiritual experience."