Cabin Fever NW

Artist Information

Biography

If friendship had a soundtrack, this would be it.

No matter where you live, it’s likely that you’ve experienced cabin fever. You’ve been stuck where you are for way too long. You need to get out, you need something good to happen. Immediately.

Now consider the M word: Magic. If you believe in magic, people may think you’re crazy. They might roll their eyes or excuse themselves from the table as fast as they can. But our definition of magic doesn’t include wands or incantations…it is simply that mystifying thing that happens if you’re really lucky. Music, friendship, and love are all magical experiences. And when these three things all come together in one place, we call it Cabin Fever NW.

Cabin Fever NW at its core is Dianne Wood Bochsler and Tara Lynn Caldwell: a genre-bending singer-songwriter duo who mix a brew of musical flavors including folk, bluegrass, alt-country, blues and more. Whatever you call it, audiences agree, these gifted performers step on stage and create music that lifts your heart and soul, helps get you out of the doldrums, and takes you on a trip to feel good town.

Their original works have received recognition by national media, including NPR's Car Talk, and SING OUT! Magazine. In recent years they were honored as recipients of the "People's Choice Award" at the 2008 Winter Folk Festival in Florence, OR, and won "Best Song in the World" in Gary Allen’s May ‘09 Nashville Songwriting Contest.

History: Tara and Dianne’s unusual route to music is a juicy inspiration for late bloomers everywhere. Their paths first crossed in Bellingham as they neared the age of 40: Dianne arrived from the Navajo Reservation and Tara from San Francisco. While playing hooky from their everyday lives, they stumbled upon a delightful discovery: their beautiful harmonic blend. They resolved to set aside fear and doubt and explore their musical possibilities. As they began to sing and play, crowds formed. Babies stopped crying. People held hands in the streets and smiled at one another. The sun came out. Flowers bloomed.

Tara’s foray into songwriting began at age four on a train trip across Canada, then took a forty year hiatus while she pursued a singing career that took place mostly alone and in moving vehicles. She picked up the banjo at age 44 and rediscovered her talent for songwriting. As a girl, Dianne began singing and playing guitar with her father, a consummate musician in his own right. She adopted a piece of his life philosophy: happiness is playing and singing with friends. When she saw the music scene in the Pacific Northwest, she realized she had to be part of it. She followed her heart's desire and jumped into the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, where she found a bottomless well of inspiration. To help them hone their crafts, Tara and Dianne both studied under the legendary John Malcom Miller.

With a friendship that harmonizes in a myriad of ways, Tara and Dianne create a love-filled music party everywhere they go. When asked, they confess freely that music has made their lives and their hair so much better! Discover it for yourself: Music is magic.

The Short List of Influences: Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Pete Seeger, Neil Young, and John Prine

Instrumentation

Dianne Wood Bochsler - Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar
Tara Lynn Caldwell - Lead Vocals / Old-Time Banjo
Tony Rocci - Lead Guitar / Mandolin / Vocals
Marty Henick - Bass/Vocals
Ed Johnson - Lead Guitar / Mandolin / Vocals

Discography

STAY AWHILE WITH ME, the much anticipated new release from Cabin Fever NW, is due out March 1, 2010. It features ten exciting original songs along with vibrant covers of John Prine, Johnny Cash and Townes Van Zandt.

THE DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN delivers delicious original tunes, fresh takes on traditional favorites, luscious harmonies and elegant guitar and banjo accompaniment. Tara and Dianne are joined on this recording by guitar master John Miller.

The second Cabin Fever NW release SPRING THAW (2004) is a collection of 15 covers, exploring a bluegrass sound, backed-up by notable musicians including John Reischman on mandolin.

The self-titled four-song demo CABIN FEVER (2003) was their first foray into recording and was noted as one of the year’s best local recording by the Bellingham Herald.

Links

• Facebook

Audio

• I'm Gone
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• Love The Way You Lie
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• Love Letter
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• Slow and Easy
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• White Freight Liner Blues
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• Keep to the Stars
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• Mountain Modal
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• I Am Yours
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• Forever Through Time
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• Rockbottom Sideways
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Lyrics

• Love Letter
• Love the Way You Lie
• Slow and Easy
• I'm Gone
• Forever Through Time
• Yellow Mustang
• Mountain Modal
• Back Home
• Mary Alice
• Rockbottom Sideways

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• STAY AWHILE WITH ME [+ Show ]
  

  WORD ON THE STREET: What People are saying about Cabin Fever NW and their new release STAY AWHILE WI...WORD ON THE STREET: What People are saying about Cabin Fever NW and their new release STAY AWHILE WITH ME
  
  ??"You've captured lightening in a bottle. You really have." -Ed Johnson, Producer
  
  "I'd have to brag on this recording (Stay Awhile With Me). Absolutely wonderful singers, great harmony combination, I loved it!" -Wayne Henderson, Luthier
  
  "Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous." -Tom May, River City Folk (NPR)
  
  "Imagine Simon and Garfunkel singing with the Carter Family’s devotion." -The Alternate Root .com
  
  FROM THE FANS
  ?“You sound like when my two favorite flavors of ice-cream melt together. Yummy.”
  
  “Outrageously beautiful.”
  
  “No Good Roadhouse Blues is smooth like a ribbon of taffy, sexy like summer rain and down-home dirty like a homestead porch, worn in just right.”
  
  “Smokey, smooth, rich, buttery, honey-wrap-me-up-in-the-warmth perfect!”?
  
  ?“Like a lullaby, a love song, a comfort and strength all at once.”??
  
  “Your music is a sultry shiraz with hints of malbec. Timeless.”??
  
  “You are both amazing… as people keep saying: magical.”
  

• review THE DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN [+ Show ]
  

  Bellingham, Washington has been keeping secrets. Coming out of the Northwest is a sound easily fits ...Bellingham, Washington has been keeping secrets. Coming out of the Northwest is a sound easily fits into the mountains of the Appalachian homeland where the music of Cabin Fever NW was birthed. The duo, Dianne Bochsler and Tara Wolfe, blend a love for mountain music, musical chops to match their influences and a knack for weaving contemporary themes into the story lines.
  
  The combination works great on ‘The Door Is Always Open’. Tales of love and loss, leaving and coming back home and social topics such as crime and punishment coexist over the bright joy of the backing instrumentation. Girl Power gets a mountain makeover on ‘Yellow Mustang’, our free download. This is music of the heart. No flash and very accessible.
  
  The band not only calls Washington home but claims its territory as its touring base across the Pacific Northwest. The pain of losing children to school was solved when the two met on their sons’ first day of pre-school. That was twelve years ago and Cabin Fever NW is still going strong. ‘The Door Is Always Open’ is the band third album. It mixes originals and traditional songs in a good balance.
  
  Imagine Simon and Garfunkel singing with Carter Family’s devotion.

• Nashville Songwriting Contest [+ Show ]
  

  WINNER - BEST SONG IN THE WORLD FOR MAY 2009! GIVE ME THAT KISS by Cabin Fever NW received top h...WINNER - BEST SONG IN THE WORLD FOR MAY 2009!
  
  GIVE ME THAT KISS by Cabin Fever NW received top honors in Gary Allen's Music City Songwriting Contest.
  
  "Excellent! I went around humming "Give Me That Kiss" for days. Your songs are great and the singing is Simon & Garfunkle tight. You have a very natural and pleasing sound and I wouldn't change a thing." -Gary Allen
  
  Gary (of The Charlie Daniels Band/JJ Cale) resides in Nashville and is editor of the newsletter The Music City Beat!
  

• Mary Alice [+ Show ]
  

  The lyrics and musical score for their song, "Mary Alice" was printed in the summer 2007 edition of ...The lyrics and musical score for their song, "Mary Alice" was printed in the summer 2007 edition of Sing Out! magazine and included in their sampler CD sent to select radio stations and sustaining members.
  
  "Canadian-born, Bellingham-based Tara Wolfe penned this loving song about her great aunt's courtship with a young fiddle player. The two went on the marry, and after Mary Alice learned to play the fiddle from her husband, they performed together throughout Alberta, Canada. Tara and musical partner Dianne Bochsler comprise the duo Cabin Fever NW, based in Washington State. "Mary ALice" is on their third self-released CD, "The Door Is Always Open". "
  BLAINE WAIDE - SING OUT! (JUN 2, 2007)

• CD Review - The Door Is Always Open [+ Show ]
  

  CD: The Door Is Always Open Band: Cabin Fever NW OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve got a few years on o...CD: The Door Is Always Open
  Band: Cabin Fever NW
  
  OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve got a few years on our regular music reviewers, plus I’m from Indiana. So when a copy of The Door Is Always Open appeared at the Whatcom Independent and we popped it into the CD player, my feet started tapping and much to the dismay of my fellow reporters, I started humming along. Acoustic guitar and banjo. Songs with a story line, no yelling or swearing, nice harmony. My kinda music. Thank you Dianne Bochsler and Tara Wolfe for this holiday treat produced right here in Bellingham at Bayside Recording. Some of the songs could have been written 100 years ago or just this year, as many of the selections have been. A few of the songs will remind you of the sound track of “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” Others, like “Yellow Mustang” are a wonderful blend of 60’s car tunes and the country songs you hear on the radio driving through South Dakota. Others have the timeless themes of all good folk music – leaving home, starting over, regretting a lost love.
  
  All will make you wish it was a balmy day in July and, with a bottle of nice wine and a blanket, you were headed out to a grassy field to listen to Cabin Fever NW in person. Fortunately, since its soggy blanket season, you have alternatives. The CD is now available throughout the county and Dianne and Tara are having a CD release party this week (see page 11). Even if you aren’t a bit over the hill or from Indiana, go hear them. I’ll bet you’ll soon be humming along, too.
  
  By Marilyn Olsen
  “Indy Picks” Dec 7, 2006
  

• The Door Is Always Open [+ Show ]
  

  The Door Is Always Open - Cabin Fever NW This third release from Cabin Fever NW is a classic albu...The Door Is Always Open - Cabin Fever NW
  
  This third release from Cabin Fever NW is a classic album for anyone who yearns for more folk, bluegrass and country in their life. This 13-track release is overflowing with simple guitar and banjo sounds intertwined with harmonies from the female vocalists.
  
  Their sound is similar to Emmy Lou Harris or The Indigo Girls. Influences could be recent or old school as their sound is hard to put into one time period. The lyrics get your mind going as they sing about serious issues such as relationships, love and sorrow. The harmonies of vocalists Dianne Bochsler and Tara Wolfe are perfected and their sound seems like they have been singing together for years. Seems as though the two have a very close relationship and listening to their album gives listeners a familiar, warm tone.
  
  The Door Is Always Open is a must have if you love country and bluegrass. Bellingham is lucky to have such a talented duo just down the street.
  

• NW Sun review [+ Show ]
  

  The stoic pioneer couple on the cover of Cabin Fever’s demo CD have the look of long winter about ... The stoic pioneer couple on the cover of Cabin Fever’s demo CD have the look of long winter about them. You can imagine them sitting by the fire, fending off the snow and dark with sewing projects and songs. In the years before television, families all over the country kept company together with music and stories, creating a down home legacy of family entertainment to keep their spirits lively. That stir-crazy feeling is best soothed by throat medicine.
  
  Bluegrass music has deep roots in this country, and the echoes of finger-picking sessions on the front porch and campfire hootenannies still resonate, generations later. Tara Wolfe and Dianne Bochsler, the Bellingham duo Cabin Fever, grew up singing along with their family music: Woody Guthrie songs on the record player, Pete Seeger on road trips, cooking songs, and dishwashing harmonies. They learned home songs, freedom songs, songs about the road, songs they kept to themselves, songs that kept them company as they grew into adults and raised families of their own. They met and became friends through their sons, and when they started singing together in the kitchen at a party one night, they found that they shared a kindred wealth of music – a love of the Americana catalogue of songs.
  
  They started trading old and new favorites during late night harmony sessions, and after an Arlo Guthrie show knocked some inspiration into them, Dianne went off and found herself an new guitar. They started playing some around town last year: a regular lunch gig at Toad Mountain Coffee Co., breakfasts at Old Town Café, some shows at Stuart’s. Their rich harmonies go down easy with food and drink, providing musical sustenance to keep the heart company with the belly.
  
  Dianne’s got some Loretta Lynn in her sweet tangy twang, and an iced tea in the backyard sort of feel to her voice. Tara comes in rich and low and creamy, something chocolatey that glides easy from her throat. It’s mother’s music, and I mean that as high compliment; the kind of singing that invites you in to sing right alongside, to find your own singing voice, your own harmony in the song.
  Their self-titled demo CD - with Tara’s grandfolks posed stoic on the cover - was commended by the Bellingham Herald as one of the best releases in the county last year. They spent this last winter in the studio, recording a full length CD called Spring Thaw. It’s full of fine tribute to some old traditional songs and some more recent gems from Gillian Welch, Nanci Griffith, Townes Van Zandt, and Utah Phillips. Korby Lenker’s song Punkin Brown is on there too. They chose carefully: songs of freedom, beauty, love, and courage. It’s what Woody Guthrie was talking about.
  
  They’ve got some fine folks keeping them musical company on the new CD: renowned Canadian mandolin player John Reischman, Laurel Bliss on the resonator guitar, Mike Schway on fiddle, and their mentor Ginny Snowe on bass. The instrumental combination is light and supportive of the sweet magic of the harmonies. It’s a gracious, humble, and sincere treatment that lends the songs a timely timelessness. It’s Sunday driving sing-along music for the whole family, or for you by yourself with the volume up loud enough so you can practice singing along.
  
  Ginny, Mike, Laurel, and David Weiss will join them in the garden at Boundary Bay for the CD release of Spring Thaw, Sunday June 27th at 7pm. The proceeds for the show will go to local organization Blue Skies For Children. Their CD will be available for purchase at www.CDbaby.com, and you can find them online at HYPERLINK "http://www.bima.com/cabinfever" www.bima.com/cabinfever . They’ll be popping up at some local festivals this summer, and will be playing some lunchtime shows at Toad Mountain again in the fall. By the time next winter rolls around, you may be able to treat cabin fever with your own medicine kit of songs.

• Recent Northwest CD releases [+ Show ]
  

  Cabin Fever NW "Spring Thaw" As Cabin Fever, Dianne Bochsler and Tara Wolfe are a clean slate. Th...Cabin Fever NW
  "Spring Thaw"
  As Cabin Fever, Dianne Bochsler and Tara Wolfe are a clean slate. They play other people's folk and bluegrass tunes - 15 of them on Cabin Fever's debut full-length CD - and do so without an ounce of the pretension that seems to guide the majority of similar projects. Their M.O.: They like good songs and, shucks, sound good singing them.
  And not good in an "American Idol"-style-recitation way. Not only do Bochsler's slightly pinched alto and Wolfe's breezier, lower croon conjure images of waffles, irons and other things with perfect symmetry, but each vocalist proves herself as a gifted song interpreter.
  You can tell from Bochsler's little hiccups on the chorus to Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl" or Wolfe's somehow fitting yodel on country standard "Night Rider's Lament": They get the songs. Now may be the perfect time to hear them write some of their own, too.
  Keep an eye out for Cabin Fever's cover of The Barbed Wire Cutters' "Punkin' Brown," too, as well as nice backup work from mandolin-player John Reischman on "Catfish John" and guitar lines by Laurel Bliss.
  
  

Setlist

Tara and Dianne can conduct harmony singing workshops as part of a weekend festival.

Songs on a sample set list could include:

Slow and Easy (Wolfe/Bochsler)
Love Letter (Wolfe)
I'll Fly Away (traditional)
Paradise (John Prine)
If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt)
Going to the Races (traditional)
Yellow Mustang (Bochsler)
Mountain Modal (Wolfe)
Wabash Cannonball(traditional)
Mary Alice (Wolfe)
Are You Tired of Me My Darling (AP Carter)
Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms (traditional)
Shores of Jordan (Iris Dement)
Fish and Whistle (John Prine)
Workin' Girl (Nancy Griffin)
Little Darlin Pal of Mine (traditional)
We Shall All Be Reunited (Alfred Karnes)
Handsome Molly (traditional)
Red River Valley (traditional)
Give Me That Kiss (Wolfe)
You Ain't Going Nowhere (Bob Dylan)
Back Home (Wolfe)
Can We Start Again (Bochsler)
Covered Windows (Bochsler)
Some Sweet Magic (Bochsler/Wolfe)
Don't Walk Away (Wolfe)
The Door Is Always Open (Wolfe)
I'll Remember You Love in My Prayers (Bill Monroe)
Catfish John (McDill/Reynolds)
Punkin Brown (Korby Lenker)
Tecumseh Valley (Townes Van Zandt)
I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll (Welch/Rawlings)

Basic Requirements

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