This is not how this evening was supposed to go – quite the opposite in fact. According to the performers’ old adage: the show must go on. The stage where country music star is appearing at London’s Rough Trade East is notoriously intimate. A low platform is tucked directly into the record shop’s corner. Surrounding it are genre dividers, overhead ductwork and vinyl bins glowing under purple stage lights. 

It is a long way from , and a long way from the spotlight of Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, where Peck played the Emcee in last year. It’s also a universe away from the stagecraft of his high-octane tour in 2024. But as Peck steps into the lights clutching an acoustic guitar, looking tall and imposing despite a clearly compromised right hand (more of which later), the air in the room feels thick, charged and utterly unpredictable.

He takes a breath. Beneath the leather fringe of his iconic mask, the mysterious visor that has shielded his identity while cementing his status as country music’s most arresting outsider, his posture slumps just a fraction.

“The thing that always felt comforting is, like, just knowing Dolly existed in country” – Orville Peck on Dolly Parton’s death

“How are y’all doing?” he asks the audience, his signature baritone edged with tremor. “I’m gonna be real with you guys and say I’m a little bit of a mess right now. Maybe some of you have heard,” he says. Some of the crowd murmur “Yes,” in unison, before he continues, “ passed away.”

A collective gasp reverberates from the few who are learning the news for the first time. Peck pauses, adjusting his grip on the guitar neck. “I don’t think I ever thought of the concept of having a hero, you know? And I think Dolly was my hero, because I think as a… as a gay man coming into country music and feeling sort of alone, I think the thing that always felt comforting is, like, just knowing Dolly existed in country. It made me feel like I had a friend there, you know?

“So, we love Dolly.”

Attitude Man of the Year 

Nineteen hours later, we are sitting in MetalCraft Studios in London’s Tottenham following his Attitude cover shoot ahead of him celebrating his Man of the Year Award, supported by Virgin Atlantic, at the   2026, in partnership with  and electrified by .

Peck has spent the afternoon posing on chairs and writhing around on the floor through thick haze, framed by exposed wooden lath and distressed plaster walls – Rough Trade feels a world away. After the shoot wraps, he sits across from me, sipping a Coca-Cola.

He winces at the pain in his right arm, readjusting the dressing which conceals an injury incurred by a post-party attempt to punch a birthday cake. His fist went through the cake and landed on the table beneath, fracturing his wrist. 

Beyond the injury though, Peck radiates a newfound, grounding stability, much of it anchored by his relationship. “Shall we refer to him… I think ‘partner’ because we’re not technically married, but we just call each other husbands,” he says with a smile. 

“Having a partner that allows me to be myself is the most beautiful part of any relationship” – Peck on his partner

That partnership proved to be vital ballast during Peck’s journey towards sobriety and the deep emotional excavation required for new album , which will have been released by the time you read this. “Having a partner that allows me to be myself is the most beautiful part of any relationship. That’s the best thing a relationship could be: finding someone who truly allows you to be who you are,” Peck says.

To understand , one must understand the equine lineage Peck has meticulously constructed throughout his discography. “I always call my albums horse things, depending on what that represents of me,” he explains, tracing his artistic evolution. “My first album was ; that was kind of my nervous, sweet, pure, wholesome, true first step into the light. Then I had , because suddenly I was signed to a major label and I had some kind of glitz and glamour behind just the regular pony. Then there was , which was about me kind of breaking free from some very difficult things in my life.”

After came , a star-studded victory lap featuring duets with Willie Nelson, and . But while the public saw a triumphant country icon bridging pop and tradition, behind closed doors, Peck was collapsing.

This is an excerpt of a feature appearing in Attitude’s November/December 2026 issue.