Orville Peck is opening up about how a suicide attempt in 2023 inspired some of his most personal music to date.
The 38-year-old country singer revealed in a new interview that he was struggling with both his mental and physical health when he canceled his Bronco tour in June 2023. Two days before announcing the cancellation, Peck said he intentionally overdosed.
“I was a bad addict, a coping alcoholic,” the openly gay singer told Rolling Stone. “And I had this spiral moment, where I went back to my hotel and tried to take my life. It was a big turning point for me, with a lot of realizations to come. It was something that needed to happen.”
Peck, whose real name is Daniel Pitout, said he was “in one of the worst places” of his life. The experience, along with a breakup and a stint in rehab, became the foundation for his fourth album, Mule, due Sept. 18 through Warner Records.
In a news release announcing the album, the 13-song collection is described as a “chronological timeline of the year that reshaped his life, tracing the collapse of addiction, the difficult pursuit of sobriety, and the slow, often uncertain process of rebuilding. Told with unflinching honesty, humor, and compassion, Mule finds Peck confronting love, loss, and identity through songs that move fluidly between classic country storytelling, bluegrass, and expansive Americana.”
The album’s lead single, “Too Little, Too Late,” arrived Friday (July 24). The pop-country track, co-written by Peck, Steve Rusch and Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, serves as a sharp kiss-off to an ex looking for another chance.
Peck also told Rolling Stone that his time in rehab inspired the album track “Rehab Blues.”
“I didn’t want to be there. I thought it was a waste of time, that I’m unique and didn’t have a problem,” he said. “So I was like, I’m going to write the funniest song about this experience, because at the time I was just like, ‘F— this. I want to leave.’”
Mule follows last November’s Appaloosa EP, released after Peck’s 16-week Broadway run as the emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.
Peck, who performed Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” during his Grand Ole Opry debut on Tuesday (July 21), will launch his Man Turned Mule 2026 North American tour on Oct. 28 in Sacramento, California. The trek runs through Nov. 22, wrapping at the Paramount in Huntington, New York.