At Brooklyn Paramount, the cowboy hats were out in force. So were the tassels, the fringe jackets, and the masks. Couples held hands and kissed as Orville Peck sang. There’s something beautiful about seeing two men kiss in a room full of cowboy hats while a country ballad plays. At Peck’s show, it felt like the most ordinary thing in the world.
Even if you’ve never heard of Peck, there’s something familiar about the way he sings. He has a deep voice and a way of drawing out a line until you can hear the heartache in it. On “Dead of Night,” the steel guitar lingers behind him as he sings about two young men falling for each other in the Nevada desert. It has all the ache of an old country love song.
Peck has a sense of humor about cowboys, too. When Willie Nelson asked him to record “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” the two leaned into the joke of a song that had been around for decades. There’s a particular pleasure in hearing one of country’s best-known voices sing it alongside an openly gay cowboy in a mask.
Queer people have long made and loved country music. At Brooklyn Paramount, you could see that history in the present tense. A room full of people dressed up in their best Western wear, listened to a man sing about loving men, and reached for the hand of whoever they came with.
Where to See Orville Peck
Orville Peck’s Man Turned Mule Tour continues through November 22, with stops in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Raleigh, Nashville, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, and Huntington, New York. Check Live Nation for tour dates and tickets.
