Orville Peck says that wearing a mask “helps eliminate pretense”. He has covered his face throughout his career.
In terms of recent breakout country stars, few have been making waves in the genre recently as much as Orville Peck has. Ever since he released his debut album Pony in 2019, he has been gaining the respect and admiration of famous musicians from all genres. Throughout his career, he’s earned several music awards and nominations, including a GLAAD Media Award nomination in 2021.
Nowadays, fresh off the release of his third project, Bronco, Orville is poised to make even more of a mark for himself in 2023.
Aside from a striking voice that hearkens back to the golden age of country and blues music, one of the most standout aspects of Orville’s stage presence is the fact that he always has a mask covering his face. So, why does Orville wear a mask? Let’s unpack what we know about the mysterious musician’s wardrobe choice.
Why does Orville Peck wear a mask?
Orville’s penchant for wearing masks whenever he’s in public is far from revolutionary (think DeadMau5, Daft Punk, or even Kanye West), but the country star has some unique reasons for why he dons a face covering.
“I think the mask helped with that in a way, but not because the way that people maybe think,” he explained to The Boot back in 2019.
“I think another misconception is that I can be really candid and open because I’m somehow remaining anonymous, but it’s not really like that,” he went on to add. “If anything, I think that my mask helps eliminate pretense, and this idea of having to go onstage and perform as someone or something I’m not.”
Orville doubled down on that ideology while speaking with NPR in 2022. When asked if the mask allows him to be himself more, the star responded with, “That’s kind of the irony of my mask is that — the idea that some people would have me being anonymous or hiding something or not being sincere. But it’s funny ’cause the mask actually has allowed me to be the most vulnerable and the most sincere that I’ve ever been in my life.”
Clearly, Orville’s approach to fame is very methodical. The star only reveals exactly what he wants his fans to know about him, and nothing more. The air of mystery that this has cultivated has helped catapult Orville into the music stardom stratosphere and certainly made him a name to continue watching as time goes on.
Has Orville Peck ever revealed his face?
To the general public and his fans, the answer to this question is No! But that doesn’t mean he wears mask even in his full privacy. Surely, he has family members and close friends who know him very well without his mask.
But as quickly as fans were drawn to him, some were just as eager to unmask him, and eventually he was identified as Daniel Pitout of Canadian garage and punk groups Nü Sensae and Eating Out, per Chicago Reader.
A self-styled “outlaw cowboy,” Orville Peck is a purposefully enigmatic performer whose music fuses elements of goth, shoegaze, and indie rock with grand-scale vocals and iconography that honors classic country music from the ’50s and ’60s.
He is best known for his unique style of country music, which blends elements of punk and rock. His habit of performing with a bandana covering most of his face has earned him the title of the “masked man of mystery.”
