Turning Back Beautiful CD

Diane moved to the Boston area to earn a degree in elementary education, then a graduate degree in communications. She honed her stagecraft at folk venues in the Boston area, and her first cassette of six original songs received much local radio airplay. She supported herself as a free-lance editor.

In the late 1980s Diane studied with 12-string guitar master Tracy Moore and polished her vocal skills at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge. She continued writing and created some striking songs on the lap dulcimer that make the most of that instrument's quirky charm. Diane also fell for the quirky charm of her husband, John, whom she married in 1991.

In 1993 BCN Records released Diane's first full-length recording, \"Shoes That Fit Like Sand.

\" It includes one of her most popular songs, 'Raisin Pie,' based on her French-Canadian mother's memories of her family dancing around the kitchen in the 1930s. Johnny Cunningham added his exquisite fiddle-playing to the recording.

Also in 1993 Diane joined the Gloucester Hornpipe & Clog Society, a band with a 30-year history of performing traditional and original music on fiddle, flute, guitar, accordion, banjo, and the age-old delights of spoons, bones, and Irish drum. In 1995 the Wizmak label released their CD \"Airs From Who Knows Where,\" which featured some of Diane's originals. In 2008 the band released its CD entitled \"Liberty!\" with more Diane Taraz compositions.

In 1994 Diane and John welcomed Laura Cecilia to the world. During her pregnancy Diane recorded four songs for a BCN Records compilation CD, \"The Songs of Jack Hardy.

\" That year her performing took her to South Carolina for a concert arranged by a devoted fan.