Orville Peck Opens Up About Sobriety, Queer Identity and New Album in Playgirl Feature
Photo Credit: Warner Records
Orville Peck is the September 2026 cover star of Playgirl, appearing in a provocative photo feature photographed by Anna Garbowska.
Gay Times described the shoot as a major attention-grabbing moment for the country performer, while TMZ published a gallery of images from the session.
The feature was released on September 11, placing it within the final week before Peck’s next album is scheduled to arrive.
The Story Behind Mule
In the accompanying Playgirl interview, Peck discusses Mule as a record shaped by a year of professional success, personal crisis and recovery.
Peck says the album reflects the contrast between the public momentum of his Bronco era and what he described as a private period of deterioration.
“The themes on Mule explore the side of me that everyone saw during the time this album,” Peck told Playgirl. “During the Bronco era I was rising in my success and touring, amazing things were happening, while the private side of me was crumbling and disintegrating into crisis.”
The album’s title refers to the hybrid animal, but Peck also connects the word with feeling caught between worlds and with the drug trade.
“A mule is a mix between a horse and a donkey; they’re on neither side, kind of stuck between two worlds trying to figure out which one they are,” he said.
Peck said every song represents part of the year in which he became sober, with the record’s sound changing as the narrative moves from denial and chaos toward clarity and recovery.
The project includes a bluegrass trio featuring Molly Tuttle, and Peck said the musicians function as a recurring “Greek chorus” that signals progress in his healing journey.
Mule is scheduled for release on September 18 through Warner Records.
Sobriety and Queer Community
The interview gives substantial attention to addiction and sobriety rather than treating the photo shoot as a standalone publicity appearance.
Peck said he wanted to speak plainly about what he had experienced, rather than relying entirely on metaphor.
“I always try to be vulnerable, but with Mule I tried to be as blatant as I could about what I was going through,” he said.
Peck also connected the record’s themes to experiences within queer communities, including the ways some LGBTQ+ people may use substances to cope with pain or conceal distress.
“So often, especially in queer community, there’s numbing going on and substance abuse that out of context people would recognize that people are maybe in crisis,” Peck said.
He said he hopes the album encourages people to check in with friends who may be struggling, while emphasizing that he does not want to present sobriety as a moral lecture.
The comments place the Playgirl feature within a broader conversation about queer visibility, self-expression and the pressures that can accompany public masculinity.
Masks, Cowboys and Masculinity
Peck’s mask remains a central part of his public image in the Playgirl images.
In the interview, he said the mask initially gave him the protection to create music without expecting an audience.
“The best secret favor I did for myself unknowingly was putting the mask on,” Peck said.
He described the mask as a form of armor that enabled him to write more vulnerably and said it helped him develop both as an artist and as a person.
Peck also discussed the cowboy image as a way to challenge assumptions about masculinity and heterosexuality.
“Not only is there a reality of gay cowboys in the world and in history, but I think the idea of a cowboy is such a trope of masculinity,” he said.
That framing is consistent with Peck’s established artistic persona, which combines country music, queer self-presentation and Western visual language.
What Comes Next
The Playgirl material includes an interview, a photo spread and a backstage video available through PLAYGIRL+.
The feature also serves as an introduction to Mule, an album Peck presents as a direct account of addiction, sobriety, responsibility and returning to a sense of self.
With the album scheduled for September 18, the cover arrives at a consequential point in Peck’s current release campaign.
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