[classical cello music]
- This is what the cello is supposed to sound like.
- Kim Souther is a classically-trained cellist
and has performed in many professional orchestras.
So it's a little bit of a surprise
when she plays something like this...
[cello country music]
And then turns it into this .
[uptempo cello country music]
- When you have a musical moment, it's just awe-inspiring.
- Kim is still a classically-trained cellist.
She's just trying to move the cello
beyond the limits of classical music.
- There's a whole new realm that I haven't discovered
and that's where my heartsong is.
- Kim was drawn to the cello as a child.
- You always hear it playing minor keys.
And I'm a very-- was very melancholy.
- She tried to branch out in high school and college,
but was told, "No."
- You play the cello. It's a classical instrument.
You can't do jazz. Sorry.
- So she went down the classical path,
teaching and playing in the orchestra.
- You're playing in a cello section
that is attempting to sound like one cello.
And so there's not a lot of personality
that comes out of your instrument.
It can be very subtle.
- While living in Texas, Kim reached her low point.
Frustrated with the audition process and the musical scene,
she gave up.
- I stopped playing for about two years.
- In 2008, her husband got a job in Sturgeon Bay.
- You move to a new place.
It's new, new possibilities, fresh opportunities.
- Kim rediscovered her passion
and realized it didn't always involve blending in.
- It's a bluegrass tune on cello.
[bluegrass music]
- She started to improvise.
- Then when I realized it came very naturally to me,
not having to read notes,
just being able to create.
Also, that creates a freedom
of understanding your instrument better.
So then you realize what the cello's capable of doing.
What its limitations are.
And what your limitations are.
- Soon, that improvisation
turned into a concert series at her home,
called the "Back Porch Sessions."
- Well, hi, guys.
I'm just gonna kind of sample for you
some ways that I'm trying to make cello a little different.
- Kim invites other bands to the stage,
and joins in to show how the cello
can fit into something like Gypsy swing.
[Gypsy swing music]
- I love to put a group of musicians together in a circle
and just see what happens
because that's where the magic happens, honestly.
It's just...
Here's the key. I wrote this tune.
Do your best. Here we go!
? ?
Some of the most magnificent music can happen from that.
- But her improvisation goes beyond genre.
- I was trying to get a cello bow to bounce
because that was the technique I was working on that day.
And I thought, "What does a strainer do?
I wonder how it bounces on the string?"
[resonant plucking]
- And I tried it and thought,
"That's great."
And then, from there it went to,
"And let's try it with a spatula.
And what else is in the kitchen?"
And I still do it.
[warm strumming sound]
- Kim's not sure how much of this is experimentation
and how much is finding the next great sound.
- Do I want to record it or
am I just proving a point 'cause I'm playing with a spatula?
But some of them are honestly making
some really amazing sounds.
[clarinet playing Gypsy swing]
- Kim says part of this success
is due to her location in Door County.
- Nature's incredibly inspirational.
- Hello.
- And it helps draw in a crowd.
- It's just an easy place for you to say,
"I'm going to try something new?
Would you like to come to a house concert?"
And you get an audience.
- For this classically-trained cellist, there's nothing better
than standing up and jamming out
with some friends in the backyard.
[Gypsy swing music]
- There are times when you want to blend in,
but there are other times where you're allowed to come out
and be as creative with the instrument
as you would like to be.
And I think that's what's so fulfilling.
- [singing] ? Found a new baby ?
? A new baby That's all ?
? I found a new baby ?
? A new baby That's all ?
[band plays closing notes]
[applause]