Among the saturated market of modern country music, Orville Peck remains distinct in his theatrical way of evoking an authentic Wild West. The traditional sounds and instrumentation of Appaloosa wouldn’t be out of place in the soundtrack of an old western. Orville’s vocals, though tinged with a retro country crooner tone, have a polished, Broadway quality to them that makes for a really compelling juxtaposition with a genre that is often all about the rustic and imperfect. Indeed, he did just finish a stint as the Emcee in Cabaret, which explains the country cover of Maybe This Time. Puritans of the genre may not love it, but I do. LT

Out now on Warner