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\n\tAs he gears up to release his new EP Appaloosa <\/em>on Friday (Nov. 14), country singer Orville Peck<\/a> broke down the current phase of his career in the latest episode of Billboard<\/em>\u2018s Takes Us Out<\/em>. <\/p>\n \n\tPeck sat down with Billboard\u2019s<\/em> Tetris Kelly at Los Angeles\u2019 Beachwood Caf\u00e9, where the pair chowed down on comfort food and took a look at the state of Peck\u2019s career today. \u201c[I\u2019ve been] going back to my roots, in terms of just diving into the creativity and the artistry and the references that I grew up loving,\u201d Peck says. \u201c[Appaloosa<\/em>]\u2019s also got a very constant air through it in terms of lyrics, of just kind of being unconcerned with what things should sound like or look like. I\u2019m really just making music for myself again.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe singer, who spent the last few years rising through the ranks of country music and becoming a breakout star in his own right, says that his work with friends and former collaborators such as Noah Cyrus and Willie Nelson only further helped bolster his confidence about his own artistic output. But he points to one country superstar as his dream collaborator.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI mean, I always say Dolly [Parton], I would love to work with Dolly,\u201d he says. \u201cI got Willie Nelson, he was really neck-and-neck with her, so she is the last one on my absolute bucket list that I would die to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs a disruptive force in the country space, and one who has often advocated for greater diversity and equity within the genre, Peck points out that he\u2019s happy to see some progress finally being made for the genre he calls home. \u201cI feel better about it. I think there\u2019s a lot more people now feeling like they can make country music and not be within the sort of homogenized idea of what country \u2018needs\u2019 to be,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s amazing, not just for queer people, but for black people, for brown people, there\u2019s a lot more artists who feel validated to be a part of that.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tBut, he points out that country is \u201ctricky\u201d when it comes to progress, and says that the work is far from over. \u201cThere is some attachment to country with the culture of country,\u201d he says. \u201cIn some ways we\u2019re making a lot of progress, and then in some ways, that progress is making some people want to stand firm in their gatekeeping of country. It\u2019s a constant conversation.\u201d <\/p>\n