Ep. 285: From The Lumineers to Broadway: Neyla Pekarek on Rattlesnake Kate & New EP

Neyla Pekarek spent eight years as the cellist and vocalist for The Lumineers, joining the band just weeks after graduating college in 2010 after answering a Craigslist ad. What started as a way to get out of her parents' house turned into Grammy nominations, a Saturday Night Live performance, opening for U2, playing Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks, and an invitation to perform for President Obama at the White House. In this conversation, Neyla talks about why she eventually left the band to pursue her own songwriting and return to her musical theater roots, and how being the only woman on tour with two men shaped that decision. She and Zach dig into the imposter syndrome that follows creative people even after real success. The heart of the episode is the story of Rattlesnake Kate, a real Colorado folk hero Neyla discovered in a small-town museum while in college. Kate killed 140 rattlesnakes in a single afternoon in 1925 while protecting her young son, then made a dress out of the snakeskins. Neyla turned Kate's story into a concept album and eventually a full musical produced at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2022. She also discusses her follow-up project, "Queen of Magic," inspired by Adelaide Herrmann, the first woman to headline her own magic show during the Victorian era, and why she keeps gravitating toward overlooked women in history. Neyla also shares details about her new five-song EP, her collaborators including jazz pianist Annie Booth and Broadway performer Mary Kate Morrissey, and her upcoming vaudeville-style "extravaganza" shows — August 13th in New York City at the Green Room 42, and August 27th at Cat's Crawl in Los Angeles. Buy tickets to the NYC show (August 13th at Green Room 42) https://thegreenroom42.venuetix.com/showdetails/vuFeQ60kMUNB4ZDWbiRo/f0IR4jSqAt5bvbfyv2LG Buy tickets to the LA show (August 27th at Cat's Crawl) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vaudevillian-extravaganza-tickets-1992233653487?aff=oddtdtcreator The Queen of Magic: https://www.joymachinerecords.com/artists/thequeenofmagic Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.