Orville Peck & Willie Nelson, Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other | Song Review 🎵

Orville Peck and Willie Nelson collaborate on a fabulous cover of the Ned Sublette, queer country song, “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.”

Queer country music is awesome. No, conservatives and traditionalists don’t feel the same way, but I enjoy my music spicier.  Anyways, Willie Nelson famously covered “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” in 2006. This gay cowboy song, far ahead of its time, was penned by Ned Sublette in 1981.  Now, our beloved, fringe-masked, gay country artist, Orville Peck, duets with Nelson on a brand-new cover of this queer country gem.  This 2024 rendition of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” was produced by Beau Bedford.

The instrumental is subtle, which is perfect for allowing Orville Peck and Willie Nelson’s voices to shine. Peck starts things off, with his expressive, masculine baritone.  His tone is EVERYTHING. Gay men are often pigeonholed and stereotyped as being effeminate. Just hearing a ‘manly’ voice, from an openly gay musician, singing lyrics about male/male relationships is intriguing (“No, a small town don’t like it when a cowboy has feelings for men”). Following Peck’s verse, Nelson performs the second verse, delivering one of the best lyrics of the song: “But the ones [cowboys] who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.” There is truth to the lyrics too, and it doesn’t simply limit itself to cowboys. Peck and Nelson join forces in the choruses, bringing out the cowboy love in, well, all its queerness. Following an instrumental break, Peck takes over the reins in the third verse, once more wowing with his awesome pipes.  He manages to drop in the most colorful verse – the one sporting an f-bomb!

“So, when you talk to a cowboy, don’t treat him like he was a sister

You can’t fuck with a lady that’s sleepin’ in each cowboy’s head.”

Orville Peck – what a talented man! Willie Nelson – a musical icon.  When both join forces together on the queer country classic that is “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other”, it’s nothing short of magic!

Orville Peck & Willie Nelson // “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” // Orville Peck, LLC / Warner // 4.5.24

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Orville Peck, LLC / Warner; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]