In fall 2004, Carol heard Emmylou Harris perform live.  During this concert, Emmylou spoke of the fear she first had when she began stepping into the role of songwriter from performer.  At that concert, Carol vowed to try to begin improvising in public with her cello – a scary feat for a from-the-cradle straight-ahead classically trained cellist. 

Carol’s attempts were first limited to playing in the praise band at church, where Hilary heard her.  Hilary invited Carol to play in a few of the HSB’s live shows where Hilary chose to include the cello on Hilary’s Jezebel, My Friend, Calls from Springfield, and Patty Griffin’s Mary.  For RTH, the cello is used on Hallelujah, Long Ride Home, All Along, and Blessed. 

Carol’s technical approach to improvising on cello is influenced by the book Improvising Violin by Julie Lyonn Lieberman.   Carol’s favorite non-straight ahead cellist is John Hagen of Lyle Lovett’s Large Band.  Check out John’s classic solo on You Can’t Resist It on the Live from Texas album.     It’s to wannabe improvising cellists what The Star-Spangled Banner is to Jimi Hendrix. Another favorite of Carol’s is certain New Age type music featuring the cello, particularly the work of David Darling.  A very interesting web site (and radio program) where you can hear more is Hearts of Space.  Search for “cello” on this web site to find many compositions featuring the cello’s dark, brooding voice.   Finally, Carol is a mystic at heart, and compositions of the contemporary British composer John Taverner run along mystical lines and often feature the cello.  Listen to works such as The Protecting Veil.  Carol first learned of Taverner when his Song for Athene was used in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

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