Orville Peck - Stampede
By Alli Patton
Much like its namesake, Stampede is more than just its brute strength, but rather a brilliant show of power and skill.
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Orville Peck - Stampede
Label: Warner Records
Producer: Beau Bedford
Release Date: August 2, 2024
Tracklisting:
1. Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other [with Willie Nelson]
2. The Hurtin' Kind [with Midland]
3. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) [with Elton John]
4. Back At Your Door [with Debbii Dawson]
5. Chemical Sunset [with Allison Russell]
6. Death Valley High [with Beck]
7. How Far Will We Take It? [with Noah Cyrus]
8. Miénteme [with Bu Cuaron]
9. Papa Was a Rodeo [with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway]
10. Midnight Ride [with Kylie Minogue and Diplo]
11. Ever You're Gone [with Teddy Swims]
12. You're an Asshole, I Can't Stand You (and I Want a Divorce) [with Margo Price]
13. Where Are We Now? [with Mickey Guyton]
14. Conquer The Heart [with Nathaniel Rateliff]
15. Rhinestone Cowboy [with TJ Osborne, Waylon Payne and Fancy Hagood]
From a curling cloud of dust, a symphony arises. It’s one of stomps, groans and sheer force that blooms from a distant shudder into an earth-splitting quake. With a stampede comes undeniable proof that there is power in numbers, which is why Orville Peck recruited some star-quality companions for his latest project, Stampede.
The masked troubadour’s third record – a now-completed two-part duets collection – begins as many stampedes do: everything awash in an impenetrable calm. Opening with the Willie Nelson-backed ‘Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other,’ Stampede is, at first, sweeping and spacious. Bright strings warm the airy rendition of the Ned Sublette classic like the caress of a high-hung sun.
From there, the album begins to heat up with the Midland-assisted ‘The Hurtin' Kind.’ The sensually sashaying offering, with its moaning steel and enticing rhythm, is intense and desperate, full of sweltering harmonies and fervid words. It makes for a rousing number to provoke the wild rush that follows. Tracks like Elton John’s ‘Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)’, a scorching reimagining featuring the Rocket Man himself, and ‘Miénteme,’ a heroic Spanish-language offering starring Bu Cuaron, rattle the record with the power its name promises.
Much like its namesake, though, Stampede is more than just its brute strength. With the album’s second part, arriving on August 2 to round out the 15 track collection, comes a number of intricate tracks like the dazzlingly haunting Debbii Dawson collaboration, ‘Back At Your Door,’ and the dizzyingly groovy Beck duet, ‘Death Valley High.’ Throw in a powerhouse cover of the Glen Campbell classic ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ and several impressive pairings with Teddy Swims, Margo Price and more, and this new addition brings more than just muscle to the awe-inspiring displays galloping across the album.
In its entirety, Stampede is still the brilliant show of power and skill that permeated the record’s first volume. What had been missing from the original release’s brief seven tracks, however, is now on full display as a sturdy album, full of strength and beauty. It’s a record ready to go the distance with a few good friends along for the charge.
9/10
Orville Peck’s 2024 project, Stampede, is available August 2 via Warner Records.
For more on Orville Peck, see below:
