NEW YORK (AP) — It is not easy to be an outsider in country music, but Orville Peck has made a career out of it.

On his third album, “Stampede,” his nonconformist spirit has led to collaborations with everyone from Willie Nelson and Elton John to Mickey Guyton and Kylie Minogue.

When the South African musician released his debut album, “Pony,” in 2019, little was known about him. A country crooner with a deep baritone more in line with outlaws like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings than anything on contemporary radio, Peck hid his identity (Peck is a pseudonym) and his face behind a mask.

A wide strip of leather completely obscured his forehead down to the nose bridge; the rest of his visage was concealed underneath a large Stetson and a foot of cascading fringe. As his public prolife rose and he continued to release new music, Peck started slowing stripping back the mask. Now, as he prepares to release “Stampede,” a duets album, only the hat and eye mask remain.

“I think it’s sort of in parallel with my confidence,” he says. “When I first started — my first album — I really needed the mask.”

It takes some self-assurance to release a duets album. Each song is a brand-new collaboration, a previously unexplored creative experiment, and a balancing act. “Every single song is me, 50%, and then 50% the other artist,” he says. “It’s a long tradition in country to do duets and have sort of duos. You know, I think of Johnny Cash and June Carter, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris,” he says, suggesting that this kind of album would arrive later in his career.

“But then when Willie asked me to do (the song) ‘Cowboys,’ it was like, ‘Oh, is this maybe the right moment?’ And so, then I asked Elton, and then I asked Kylie, and then, you know, so on, so forth.”

A dream get that didn’t work out? Dolly Parton.

In the case of Nelson, Peck is referring to the 1981 queer country cult classic, Ned Sublette’s “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other,” covered by Nelson in 2006 and an infrequent staple of Peck’s live show. When Nelson and Peck played a festival together a few years ago, the country legend invited Peck onto his tour bus for a cup of coffee and suggested they re-do the song as a duet. He told Peck, “It’s more important now than ever,” Peck recalls.

“I think the fact that he wanted to do this particular song with me, and the fact that his reasoning behind it was in support, and motivated in the encouragement of LGBTQ people, I mean, it’s like the most validating thing ever.” Later, they’d film a music video for the duet at Nelson’s Luck Ranch in Texas.

Across “Stampede,” too, are non-traditionalist duets and covers. There’s “Papa Was a Rodeo,” a bluegrass cover of the Magnetic Fields’ indie rock song, now with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. There’s an ode to Sin City, “Death Valley High,” with Beck, who told the AP the song was inspired by “Elvis in Vegas is, you know, Vegas by way of Memphis. It’s a totally different thing from Sinatra Vegas.”

There’s also “Midnight Ride,” a disco number with Kylie Minogue and Diplo, which the trio debuted live during a Pride event in Los Angeles in June.

“I’ve learned over the years how important visibility is,” Peck says, “Bringing something that’s really joyful and inclusive.”

A kind of outsiderness is where Peck feels home. “Country radio — country with a capital C — it’s sort of its own thing,” he says. “You got to do a lot of kissing babies and shaking hands to kind of play the Nashville game. And it’s just something I’ve never been interested in doing.

“I just want to have my music and my art speak for itself, and I don’t feel like I need to go kiss asses in Nashville to be accepted and be validated,” he continued.

“I know how country I am. I get to work with incredible legends like Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, all these people that I grew up idolizing, that love me. So, you know, that’s enough validation for me. And if I’m not on top 40 radio on country music, you know, that’s fine with me.”

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Writer Krysta Fauria contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

• Russian forces have overrun the villages of Vovche and Prohres in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to Ukraine’s military.
• The Ukrainian Security Service targeted substations in Russia’s Kursk region, causing power outages, after Russia claimed to intercept a drone attack.
• The villages are about 20 miles northwest of Avdiivka, which Russia captured in February.

Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses there.

Separately, attacks in Russia’s Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, struck a number of substations causing power outages, according to a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine. The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it thwarted a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack.

“They pressed non-stop” to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda. “They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used.”

KYIV’S FORCES ARE UP AGAINST A CONCERTED RUSSIAN PUSH IN EASTERN UKRAINE, A MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff made no official comment.

The villages lie about 20 miles northwest of Avdiivka, a Donetsk city that the Russian army seized in February after a long battle. That victory was the Kremlin’s last major triumph in the war that is now in its third year.

Russia’s onslaught, fueled by its heavy advantage in soldiers and weaponry, has repeatedly forced the Ukrainians to pull back from defensive positions to avoid being captured or killed.

Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the 47th brigade’s deputy battalion commander, confirmed to local media that the villages had been taken. He blamed poor training of troops, low abilities of officers, motivation and inadequate weapons for the setbacks.

UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY URGES FASTER US WEAPON DELIVERIES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Sunday described the situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely challenging.”

Russia’s strategy of attritional warfare, with powerful glide bombs smashing Ukrainian defenses before infantry move in, has brought incremental gains for the Kremlin as it seeks another big breakthrough.

A soldier of Ukraine’s National Guard 15th Brigade launches a reconnaissance drone, Leleka, to determine Russian positions near the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Ukraine is significantly outgunned by Russia’s bigger army on the roughly 600-mile front line.

Russian troops are also intensifying their weekslong drive to breach Ukrainian defenses around Pokrovsk, a town of around 60,000 people before the war, the Ukrainian General Staff said Monday.

Russia launched 52 attacks there over the previous 24 hours — almost twice the daily number in recent weeks, it said.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses thwarted a nighttime barrage of 39 Ukrainian drones over five of the country’s regions, Russian authorities said Monday. Ukraine claimed its forces carried out strikes in the Kursk region.

Russia’s air defense were active and explosions were reported near at least four substations, the statement from Ukraine’s General Staff said. After the attack, power outages were reported in the Ponyrovsky, Solntsevsky and Kursky districtions of Kursk region, according to the statement.

A soldier of Ukraine’s National Guard 15th Brigade works with a reconnaissance drone, Leleka, on a wheat field to determine Russian positions near the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

The attacks were carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine’s Special Operations Center, as well as other components of the Defense Forces.

“These facilities, among other things, ensure the functioning of the Russian railway, which transports weapons and military equipment to support its occupation army,” the statement said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the drones were “intercepted and destroyed” in regions bordering Ukraine as well as in the Leningrad region roughly 430 miles north of the Ukrainian border. A power plant, a bridge and a power line were damaged by drone debris, it said.

Ukraine has employed high technology in its campaign of increasingly ambitious drone strikes deep inside Russia that target critical infrastructure in an attempt to make the war more costly for Moscow and hinder its war machine.