As good as
Orville Peck's 2019 debut album,
Pony, was, no one was expecting it would push him into something close to mainstream success, probably not even
Peck himself. Between the queer subtext that was very close to the surface on many of the tunes and the fact it evoked a sort of country music that hadn't been a presence on C&W radio in decades, who would have guessed that he would break out of the alt-country underground in record time? 2020's
Show Pony,
Peck's follow-up to his exceptional debut, finds him not only signed to a major label but duetting with a bona fide superstar,
Shania Twain, on "Legends Never Die," something that surely seemed like a wild daydream when
Pony arrived 17 months earlier. A six-song EP,
Show Pony isn't as immediately impressive as the debut album, in part because it lacks the size and heft to feel like a similarly important statement.
Peck wasn't afraid to go for the grand vocal gesture on
Pony, and he's confident enough here that he's willing to go bigger and broader. While he falls short of histrionic, it sometimes sounds like he's already ready for his Las Vegas showcase, which isn't encouraging for his lonesome country soul. His cover of
Bobbie Gentry's "Fancy" is a bold move that turns the song into something like a
JT LeRoy short story; however, his decision to sing most of it essentially a cappella allows him to get lost in spots, which undercuts its effectiveness. Despite that,
Show Pony thoroughly confirms
Peck is a major talent, and the slightly glossier production works in his favor, giving him the grand Technicolor backdrops his vocals demand on "Summertime" and the subtler but artful arrangements that serve "Kids" and "No Glory in the West" so well. If the sexual metaphors of his truck driver's saga "Drive Me, Crazy" are impossible to miss, his fearless fusion of passion, romance, and unapologetic eros turns it into a near masterpiece. When
Pony came out, it seemed an open question if country music was ready for someone like
Orville Peck.
Show Pony is his declaration that if he's offered the spotlight, he'll claim it as the place he deserves to be, and on the basis of the talent and audacity shown here, only a narrow-minded fool would bet against him. ~ Mark Deming
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