Kalahari Surfers

Is there any better story in music right now than Orville Peck's? He makes old-school country—often with high-drama elements—sung in a baritone so rich and deep that it's almost unsettling, and wears a fringed mask to conceal his true identity. (Internet sleuths believe he is Daniel Pitout, the out-and-proud drummer for Canadian punk band Nu Sensae, which only makes the story more intriguing.) On his second album, a follow-up to 2019's Pony, his voice somehow sounds even richer: more Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley than Chris Isaak, one of the comparisons that followed Peck last time around. Steered by country super-producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town), it's also a waaaay bigger, grander affair.