Kim France is the bassist and contributing vocalist for Turbo Pro Project.  Kim developed a passion for music at an early age.  Listening to the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, and Vivaldi from the backseat of the family car provided a foundation of early ear training.  While a few years of piano lessons and singing in the high school chorus helped her overall understanding of music, Kim didn’t devote herself to an instrument until the age of 25.  After abandoning her college studies of journalism and anthropology, a few years of international wanderlust led to the realization that music was truly a calling.  She returned to coastal North Carolina from Mexico and devoted herself to learning guitar.  Her local influences at this time were bluegrass players, and so a study of bluegrass began.  In 2003 Kim noticed a preoccupation with upright bass players.  She began to practice on a friend’s bass and soon found herself a member of numerous bluegrass bands in the Boone area, as well as a member of a rock band on electric.  The bass allowed the unique opportunity to foray into many musical genres.  Passion for the instrument led her back to college at Appalachian State University where she received training in jazz and classical bass, and her degree in Music Industry Studies.  Kim performed in the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble as well as drumming and dancing in the African Percussion Ensemble.  She continues to perform in numerous regional projects, and in the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra.  The musical elements of all these styles can be heard in the fusion sound that is Turbo Pro Project.

While pursuing her studies, Kim heard Turbo Pro's first album on local public radio, WNCW.  Having played some bluegrass shows with Turbo in the past, she promptly contacted him and asked if he needed a bassist in his new project!  The band initially thought Kim would play the electric bass at shows, but soon discovered the novelty of mixing the upright with the eclectic instrumentation.  Kim's background in bluegrass and ongoing study of other styles provide an adhesive that connects the urban sound of the turntables and beats with the traditional Appalachian banjo tunes.  This is a sound that is unprecedented and creates a genre of its own.  Kim and her upright form an integral part of Turbo Pro Project's sonic landscape!

Follow Kim France   And http://www.taterhillmusic.com/