Highlights
- Orville Peck reveals a terrifying overdose just hours before his 2023 MSG show, leading to an immediate rehab stint.
- The country star gets candid about his new album Mule, which tackles his addiction, trauma, and journey to sobriety.
- Peck teases a steamy lyric about making out with a Raiders player, sparking rumors about NFL trailblazer Carl Nassib.
Orville Peck is taking off the mask—figuratively, at least. The fringed-up country crooner just dropped his rawest project yet, and he’s finally spilling the tea on a catastrophic overdose, rehab, and an alleged locker-room romance.
It all started at Madison Square Garden on June 20, 2023. Just hours before the opening night of his Bronco tour, Peck’s team found him overdosing in his hotel room.
He still played the gig, armed with a pre-show ritual of telling his band “I love you” and a terrifying awareness of what was coming. “It was sort of a disturbing show because me and my band were completely aware before we even stepped on stage that I was canceling the tour and I was going to rehab the next morning,” Peck confesses to Variety in a new interview.
The grim cherry on top? A sponsor-mandated onstage drink.
“I did a shot on stage of Patron. It was contractual because they sponsored the tour,” Peck reveals. “I remember taking the shot and just looking at my band and everyone just looking at me and thinking, ‘How the hell have we ended up like this?’ It was a very dark night. It was very difficult.”
Three years later, a newly sober Peck is gearing up for his headlining debut at the Hollywood Bowl.
How does he handle the mounting stress? Avoidance, mostly. “I’ve gotten really good at compartmentalizing events like this, so I tried not thinking about it until the last few days because I’d overwhelm myself,” he admits. “I’ve just started allowing myself to get excited, and I’m kind of freaking out now.”
That exact brand of compartmentalization nearly destroyed him in the first place. Peck blames his massive addiction spiral on “trying to navigate these compartmentalized worlds” of immense public scrutiny versus “going home and living as a normal person with problems and issues and trauma.”
His fourth studio album, Mule, drags those private struggles straight into the spotlight. The project chronicles his substance abuse and recovery, complete with a cheekily titled track, “Rehab Blues.”
Why pick a stubborn farm animal for the title? “They’re sort of bred specifically for working and they’re known for being stubborn,” Peck deadpans. “They also have a connotation with drug trafficking … I think that’s funny.”
But Mule isn’t just a bleak trauma dump—it’s also a juicy confessional. In the track “Ring the Bell,” the singer drops a massive lyrical bombshell: “I love the Lakers, the Mets and the Longhorns, made out with a guy on the Raiders.”
Before you ask, the mystery athlete totally gave his blessing. “I did receive permission to sing that lyric from the subject in question and he was very thrilled,” Peck teases. “I told him, ‘Look, I’m gonna keep it sort of ambiguous and mysterious, but I would like to include this in this song.’ He was very, very honored.”
Naturally, the internet is already pointing fingers at Carl Nassib, who made history by coming out while playing for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021.
Peck refuses to confirm the rumors, but he drops a major hint. “I would never have done it if it were somebody who was hiding or fearful of it coming out,” he says. “People can use their own common sense and discovery to try to figure out who it may be, but that’s all I’ll say.”
For the queer icon, putting this much of his life out there has been a brutal but necessary purge. He admits that singing the new tracks is still agonizing.
“Even in rehearsals, I could barely make it through some of the songs,” Peck shares. “These are very deep wounds. What better therapy is there than getting up and being able to express these songs?”
And as for his fans, the cowboy hopes they’re ready to bleed right along with him. “Then there are people listening and relating, and they’re sharing their pain,” he notes. “It’s a spiritual experience.”
