Orville Peck, the masked pseudonymous country singer, has opened up about a devastating year of heartbreak, addiction and a near-fatal overdose that shaped his new album, Mule. Despite commercial success – including a UK No 1 country album, duets with Elton John, Kylie Minogue and Willie Nelson, and a Broadway debut in Cabaret – Peck reveals that his personal struggles nearly derailed his career and life, making Mule an unflinchingly honest account of what he calls "the most important year of my life".

The album marks a shift from the metaphor-laden storytelling of Peck's earlier records – Pony (2019), Bronco (2022) and Stampede (2024) – towards a more literal, memoir-like style, chronicling his split from a four-year partner and subsequent overdose. Its opening track, sung by Emmylou Harris, Allison Russell and Noah Cyrus, imagines his own eulogy. The 38-year-old, who emerged from Toronto during country music's 2019 "yee-haw moment", also spoke of grieving Dolly Parton's death mid-soundcheck before a London gig, telling the crowd she had made him feel less alone as a gay man in country music.