Dance troupe working with Gasoline Lollipops star again to close landmark season

By Emily Baker

Anyone who has seen a show at Wonderbound cannot deny each performance's unique and incomparable beauty and talent. From the set design to the dancers, the choreography to the music, every element plays its part. For Wonderbound’s 10th anniversary closer, artistic director Garrett Ammon teamed up once again with Clay Rose of the Boulder alt-country band Gasoline Lollipops for “Sam and Delilah.”

“We start with no concept of what we’re even going to write about,” Rose says of the creative process behind Wonderbound’s unique style. Instead, he and Ammon pack up for a three-day writing retreat. They begin simply by talking, diving deeper and deeper into conversation, “until we hit some archetypal topic that has been plaguing us since the beginning of humanity.” Then, they hone in on similar archetypal characters from literature and history and mesh them into one or two characters that will be at the heart of a show. Thus a Wonderbound production is born.

The basis for “Sam and Delilah” is the biblical story of Sampson and Delilah. Set in an actual East Texas town called Palestine, the performance takes inspiration from the creative minds of Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch. Their archetypal characters, while based on the biblical Sampson and Delilah, pull from other similar characters throughout history. Sam, the local sheriff, is an amalgamation of figures like Elvis, John Wayne and Donald Trump while Delilah, a beautician, harkens after the biblical Eve, Jane Fonda and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

“One of the roots of the disease in this country is this imbalance between the masculine and the feminine energies,” Rose says of the topic they chose for this show. “They’re both sacred but it’s been an imbalance for a really long time, and we’re being deprived of the feminine wisdom.”

Both the GasPops, as they’re affectionately called, and Rose’s other band, The Widow’s Bane, have been the soundtracks for different Wonderbound performances. For the “Sam and Delilah” show, though, Ammon was looking for something a little different. “A few years ago he wanted me to put together a new band and write a whole new ballet and now here we are,” Rose says with a laugh.

The new band features Erika Ryann on vocals, Taylor Sims as the lead guitarist, and Matt Cantor on the bass. The other two, aside from Rose himself, are also core GasPops members Scott Coulter (keyboards) and Kevin Matthews (drums). Most songs will be composed uniquely for the “Sam and Delilah” production. Extra special is that Rose’s mother, Donna Ferrar, co-wrote many of the songs. Ferrar is a songwriter out of Nashville who wrote the song “The Last Thing I Needed,” which was picked up by Willie Nelson.

Music has been a central part of Rose’s life since childhood. “I loved music from the time I can remember hearing it,” Rose says. While his mother was a songwriter, his father had an affinity for records. “He listened to records with all of his attention - it was never background music. When we put on a record you sat down and listened.”

Rose’s first band was actually a punk rock band in high school, taking inspiration from bands such as NOFX and Operation Ivy. On the side, Rose listened to a lot of Bob Dylan and found himself drawn to playing guitar and writing folk music. When he moved back to Colorado and formed the Gasoline Lollipops, these unique sounds were melded into what has become the band's signature “cowpunk” style.

This lifelong affinity for music and an incredible amount of talent from all contributors goes into every Wonderbound performance. “Sam and Delilah” will run May 2-12, and, just a reminder, their last production sold out. Tickets can be purchased from Wonderbound’s website. To find tour dates for Clay Rose or The Gasoline Lollipops, follow them on social media or check out their website.