Armed at high noon with cigar box guitar power, blasting on a tractor through Washington DC as a one woman band Dar Stellabotta soars like a northwestern eagle. If slide guitar punk rock isn’t your cup of tea, she can build you a CBG or even sell you one from the stage. Still not intrigued? Can I interest you in her instrumental doom metal band?
Fuzz Voyage. -Theodore DeGraff Carpazine Magazine
The Story
By Dar Stellabotta
It all started when my buddy Rob Lee was managing a band called Urban Pioneers. I traveled to West Virginia to see the show and when I was at the show I saw a cigar box guitar among the items to be raffled off. I bought a few tickets and tried my luck. I did not win. But when I got home I just kept thinking how cool would it be to have a cigar box guitar! So when I had some free time I looked up a “how to make a cigar box guitar” video by a man named Glenn Watt. I scrounged around for the materials and tried my luck again with building one. Not thinking it was actually going to work, to my surprise as I strummed the strings for the first time, I fell in love with the sound.
​
I had been playing music since I was 12 years old, up until this point in my life nothing resonated more to me than the sound I received from a two by one piece of oak and a wooden Oliva cigar box. From this point I released an album called “One Woman Jam” in 2017 and then a album in 2019 titled “Lo-Fi Rejection.” I funded “Lo-Fi Rejection” with a successful kickstarter allowing me to press 250 translucent green vinyl records and 4 test presses (black vinyl) that are now completely sold out. A eight show tour in the Netherlands booked by William Nijdam and a U.S. tour followed the release of “Lo-Fi Rejection” creating a slingshot of activity for my music career.
Previously in 2017 I created a “How to make a cigar box guitar” instructional video that to this day has over 65k views. When I created this instructional video I had no idea people would enjoy it so much. When 2020 hit, the world as we knew it came to a screeching halt due to COVID. During this time I still built guitars and played an online festival.
Fours years later the world has evolved as everything does and this year I am releasing a single (the first of many) called “Leave Me To My Witch.” Set to release on all major streaming and download sites August 24, 2024 the day of the Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival where I will be performing at 5 pm. This day I will also be premiering the official music video for my new release as well.This winter I will be recording a new album titled “Into Thin Air.” This album will be release digitally as well as pressed to translucent orange vinyl in 2025.