Red Dirt Diaries: Musician Makes Classical Instrument His Own

If you’ve seen Sam Kahre perform on the street, you’d be sure to stop no matter what your musical tastes are.

That’s because the music he plays with a cello is stuff you would recognize and could sing along with.

Kahre provides a new twist to so many of today’s hit songs.

He plays everything from AC-DC to Bruno Mars to the theme song from the TV show “Game of Thrones.”

“It’s really enjoyable seeing their reactions. They say ‘I didn’t know a cello could play AC-DC,’” said Kahre who plays parties, weddings and at schools.

The 19-year-old's mom actually picked the cello for her son, because hearing a beginner on the violin wasn't music to her ears.

“It’s like an injured cat,” said Sam’s mom Peggy Kahre, who knows that sound because of her family’s business.

Herbert Bagwell opened the Inner City Violin Studio in 1956 near NW 30th and Classen Boulevard as way of providing instruments to metro school children.

Bagwell also taught music at UCO where Sam now studies.

“My goal is to kind of keep that momentum going, of having anyone who wants to be able to have music, if they want it,” said Kahre who might one day take over the studio.

To that end, along with weddings and parties, Sam plays gigs at schools hoping to inspire other potential musicians.

“He really loves what he does and you can feel that when you watch him play,” said Peggy Kahre.