Finding Inspiration in the Wild West Tale of “Rattlesnake Kate”

One day in 1925, Kate Slaughterback and her adopted son Ernie were riding horses near Hudson, Colorado, when they were beset by rattlesnakes. Being no ordinary frontierswoman, Kate shot and clubbed 140 of them to death, earning her the nickname Rattlesnake Kate. Nearly 100 years later, another extraordinary Colorado woman stumbled across a dress made entirely out of rattlesnake skins and found herself beset by inspiration. A former member of The Lumineers, Neyla Pekarek wrote and recorded her first solo album based on Kate’s story a few years ago, and now, with help from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, she’s adapted it into a full-blown musical. Host Bree Davies sits down with Pekarek to talk about what she saw in the little-known story of Rattlesnake Kate and why she deserves her place in the history of the Old West. 

“Rattlesnake Kate” is in previews this week ahead of the big opening this Friday. You can learn more about it and find tickets here: https://www.denvercenter.org/tickets-events/rattlesnake-kate/

Plus, after hearing about the upheaval in the Douglas County School District yesterday, we checked in with parents Nara Altmann and Ishmeet Kalra. They helped create DougCo Schools’ equity policy in 2020, which the new conservative board majority has been dismantling alongside their efforts to oust former superintendent Corey Wise and cancel mask mandates. Catch our episode with Altmann and Kalra from last August about the equity policy here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ksJbnJksbUQdvIyVBjcK1

At the end of last week, Mayor Michael Hancock announced a series of new public safety programs and policies. Peyton’s got a full rundown in today’s newsletter, which you can read and subscribe to right here: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/

Are you excited to see Rattlesnake Kate: The Musical? Let us know on Twitter: @citycastdenver