Singer/songwriter and cellist Neyla Pekarek is probably best known as a member of the Grammy-nominated Americana group The Lumineers. After the band’s last album, Cleopatra, Pekarek announced she was leaving the band to work on an M. Ward produced solo album. Pekarek’s solo debut, Rattlesnake, is based around the story of Katherine McHale Slaughterback, who reportedly killed 140 rattlesnakes in 1925 while defending her three year-old son in rural Colorado. Nicknamed “Rattlesnake Kate,” Slaughterback collected rattlesnake venom for research, was a trained nurse and taxidermist, and married and divorced six times. Much of Pekarek’s “folk-opera” subjects were taken from Slaughterback’s self-described life love letters written to Colonel Charles D. Randolph, whom she never met. Standout tracks include: the rollicking rambler and opening track “Train”; the love song to Kate’s faithful steed, “Brownie: Ode to a Horse”; the upbeat country ditty about poisoning a lover on “Arsenic”; the sassy diss of Annie Oakley on “Better Than Annie”; the yearning piano duet “Letters to the Colonel”; and the r&b-styled ballad, “I’m a Scoundrel.” Neyla Pekarek takes a bold step on her debut, offering an offbeat story and diverse yet theatrical collection of entertaining songs. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Rachel Baiman, Cicada Rhythm, The Lumineers, J.S. Ondara, Lula Wiles