Orville Peck’s Stampede Tour Barrels Through House Of Blues

What do Orville Peck and Beyoncé have in common? One: they’re both fabulous. Two, and perhaps more notably, neither has ever been nominated for a Country Music Association award. Beyoncé was famously overlooked by the CMAs following the release of Cowboy Carter, while the inherently more country Peck received no nominations for either Pony or the even more critically lauded Bronco.

Awards are, in the final analysis, meaningless. It’s just funny that an album by an African-American artist that was No. 1 on the country charts for four weeks and two releases by a queer artist who can play all his own instruments and doesn’t use Autotune happened to be frozen out.

Peck has really taken off, especially in the wake of his latest release, Stampede. For example, this last few days saw him performing at ACL Fest in Austin and in Dallas before landing at House of Blues. Seemingly none the worse for wear, he emerged with band, clad in fashion reminiscent of the Texas Playboys, to an adoring (if somewhat meager) crowd.

“Big Sky” was an interesting choice of an opener. It’s the song that kicked it all off for Peck, and offers a prelude of that ‘Roy Orbison by way of Angelo Badalamenti’ sound that’s become almost as much his trademark as his mask. But it’s a little downbeat. The action picked up with Pony standout “Turn to Hate.” Meanwhile, “The Hurtin’ Kind”,” from the all-duet Stampede, and “Cry Baby, Cry” from Bronco continued to demonstrate Peck’s classic country bona fides.

He introduced the haunting “Hexie Mountains” by letting us know he wrote it while severely depressed, and described it as his favorite track off Bronco. This emphasis on mental health ran through the show, as Peck recalled canceling his most recent tour to focus on himself, while appealing to all of us to take the same measures if needed.

Unfortunately, I only caught two of the three ground rules he initially laid out for the show. The first was for the audience to sing along, even if you didn’t know the words (mission accomplished), while the third was to cry if you wanted to (conveniently offered as the intro to “C’mon Baby, Cry”).

Peck has a gift for unconventional covers, in the vein of Sturgill Simpson, and it was a bit of a bummer we didn’t get more of them (“Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” being a notable exception). Stampede is famous for his collaborations, but all we got was “How Far Will We Take It?” — with Emily Rose (of Emily Rose and the Rounders) capably taking the Noah Cyrus part — and “The Hurtin’ Kind,” with his band stepping in for Dripping Springs’s own Midland.

Would it have been nice to hear Peck’s versions of “Born This Way” or “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters?” Sure, they would’ve killed. But by concentrating on his own songwriting gifts and unique voice, Peck made sure we appreciated this more stripped down approach. “Stripped down” also described the running time, with Peck responsibly ending his set before 10 p.m. Adulthood comes with some disadvantages, as we were denied numbers like “Let Me Drown” and “Permanently Lonely.”

There will always be those who dismiss him as a gimmick because of the mask (the full face one didn’t show up until the encore anyway) or the theatrics, and they’re sadly missing the point. Orville Peck is an infusion of fresh air that country music continues to need. Along with the likes of Zach Top, Priscilla Block, Dylan Gossett, or Tanner Adell, Peck gives us an alternative to the bro country bullshit polluting current C/W airwaves.

click to enlarge

Singing to that “Big Sky.”

Photo by Violeta Alvarez

Personal Bias: Big Lone Ranger fan as a kid.

The Crowd: If the Village People all decided to dress as the Cowboy.

Overheard In the Crowd: “Could you hold this? I have to pee. Again.”

Random Notebook Dump: “Should’ve worn my cowboy hat. …do I *own* a cowboy hat?”

SET LIST

click to enlarge

Not just any curfew.

Photo by Pete Vonder Haar