Orville Peck is not difficult to pick out in the crowd at Dundas West hipster haunt Get Well on a Tuesday night, as he’s the only chap in the room in a cowboy hat sipping a pint through a fringed leather bondage mask.

Any doubts as to whether the mysterious, Toronto-based country crooner behind one of the year’s most exciting debuts would relax his commitment to keeping the mystery intact in a casual interview setting are quickly allayed, at least. And the amiable Peck, whoever he might be, turns out to be remarkably unpretentious for a guy who has adopted such elaborate cowboy costumery as part of his shtick. Indeed, he says, he’s doing exactly the sort of thing that would irritate him if he came across another artist doing it.

“I have a pretty dichotomous personality where, on one hand, I’m such a purist about things and with all the genres of music that I like — punk, country, soul — I’m really hesitant about anything new about those genres,” he says even-handedly. “I’m always the first person to not buy into something. Which is funny, because then I go and do a project like this and that’s probably some of the resistance that I get, but I’m kind of the same way. I’m the first one to say ‘That’s a gimmick. That sucks.’

“So on one hand I’m a bit of a purist because I’m such a nerd about the history of music and a lot of the music I listen to is old music, it’s not contemporary. And then completely on the other side of things, when it really does come down to it, I don’t believe in barriers and I don’t think anything should stop anybody … For me, the barometer is sincerity. It’s really obvious to me when something isn’t genuine or sincere. Of course, I’m wearing a mask and, yes, it’s theatrical and, yes, there’s an element of costume and esthetic and character and, I suppose, acting in a way. But the reason I don’t think that’s the focus of this project is all my songs are extremely personal, and this is actually the most personal I’ve ever been as an artist.”

Peck’s new record, Pony — released earlier this year on Royal Mountain Records in Canada and beloved Seattle indie Sub Pop elsewhere — finds the rootless rambler letting his limber, multi-octave voice out to roam on surreal, cinematic tunes that find common ground amongst the early “outlaw” country of Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, the plaintive balladry of Roy Orbison, the Goth-ier end of the New Romantic era and even Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth.

There’s a reverence for tradition in the music, then, but it’s not beholden to tradition. Peck made Pony, in fact, with three-quarters of Toronto noise-rock outfit FRIGS serving as his studio band and even brought singer Bria Salmena along, too, to add a little Emmylou Harris to his Gram Parsons on the showcase tour to woo various record-label suitors — hastily arranged after “kind of lying to them that I had a band” — that wound up landing him his Sub Pop deal. So while country music is the primary source of inspiration for Orville Peck, he’s clearly not about to let the conventions of the genre limit him stylistically.

“I’m just a genuine fan of music,” he says. “To me, my inspirations and the kind of music I listen to on a daily basis still can be anything from, like, Flux of Pink Indians to Nina Simone to classical music to Broadway musicals. I just love all genres of music. Obviously, I tried to root this project in country because that’s who Orville Peck is but of course there are influences that will creep in.”

In Peck’s other life, he’s trained as a classical vocalist, worked as a dancer and done time onstage in London’s West End in addition to playing in various bands over the years. To say that all of these influences have come home to roost within the Orville Peck character is rather self-evident, then, but apart from the theatricality of the whole thing it’s the voice emanating from behind that mask that’s the most striking thing about the project.

Peck can really sing. Like, really sing, in a manner somewhat uncommon to those who move in indie-rock circles. After local promoter Dan Burke had him into the Monarch Tavern to play one of his “Class of 2019” shows this past January, I got an enthusiastic note saying Peck’s was “one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.”

Ironically, Peck says he hasn’t even been working the Man in Black baritone end of his range deployed so deftly on Pony for very long. He got proper classical voice training as a tenor, he says, but then “did all this holistic voice training where it was more about, like, ‘Picture the voice inside your stomach’ and this kinda thing and I basically discovered this two-octave range below what I already had that I never knew I could sing. I’ve only really been singing ‘low’ for four or five years now.”

On the day we spoke, Peck had just sold out his next Toronto date, an April 13 show with Vallens at Longboat Hall. He’ll basically be on the road on both sides of the Atlantic through the summer. He’s even starting to get a little play on country and Americana radio in the States, which is impressive when one considers that the most subversive figure in American country-music circles at the moment is roundly considered to be Kacey Musgraves. Apparently, the world is more ready for a masked queer cowboy than even Orville Peck could have imagined.

“I think country listeners and fans — of which I am one — have been waiting a long time for some diversity and I think country fans are not given enough credit for what they’re willing to be open-minded to,” says Peck. “I genuinely didn’t know what the reaction to this was going to be and I went through a lot of moments where I was, like, ‘Oh, man, this is not going to be well-received.’

“But it’s been such a genuinely wonderful experience because everyone seems to love it. I mean, there’s been some hate, but I like that. I think that shows you’ve got to a new level, when the hate comes in.”

MUSICIANS OF MYSTERY

Who was that masked (music) man?

From rock legends to European dance legends and onto hardcore rappers, there are plenty of musicians who have decided to wear a mask on stage (note the recent hit TV series The Masked Singer, won by T-Pain), and at least for those on this list, it certainly hasn’t hindered their success.

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Kiss

Currently on what they are calling “One Final Tour,” the hard-rock legends are probably the granddaddies of all costumed singers; with a litany of hits and worldwide tours, this was a marketing move that paid off in spades for the group.

Daft Punk

There are plenty of DJs who are basically faceless, but this legendary duo have made their helmets one of their trademarks, and along the way, created a number of hits and help to define “French Touch” electronic music.

Deadmau5

Joel Zimmerman is from Niagara Falls, Ont. but has travelled the world as his EDM alter ego Deadmau5, who came to prominence wearing a giant Mickey Mouse-inspired headset which lit up and definitely added to the theatricality of his stage show.

Gwar

The costumed heavy metallers have long performed in elaborate intergalactic-barbarian gear, and their history proves the brilliance of a costumed bit. Gwar is a rotating group of musicians, and after the death of frontman and lead singer Dave Brockie in 2014, the band has continued on without any of its founding members. Really, who would know?

MF Doom

Born Daniel Dumile, who eventually became Zev Love X when forming KMD, in the late ’90s, this rapper started performing with a stocking over his head and was eventually inspired to wear a Dr. Doom-inspired mask. It certainly made sense, as comic references are all over his prolific recorded output.

Insane Clown Posse

The horrorcore rap duo formed in 1989, and have gone one to create something of a movement, inspiring fans to also wear clown makeup, in particular at their annual Gathering of the Juggalos.

Pussy Riot

This Russian group wore balaclavas to protest what they didn’t like in their home country. It began life as an open-membership collective, one member told The Guardian: “Being Pussy Riot is like being Batman. You put on the mask — and you become Pussy Riot. You take it off — and you are no longer Pussy Riot.”