PERIVALE—The peaceful lakes of Manitoulin Island provide the perfect atmosphere to unwind, particularly if you are a five-time Juno Award winner with the reputation of being “The First Lady of the Guitar” and have just completed both a new CD and a new memoir.
Liona Boyd sat down for a quiet cup of coffee with The Expositor on the beautiful shores of Lake Kagawong to discuss life, music and the upcoming August 19 dual launch of her new memoir ‘No Remedy for Love’ and her latest CD (number 28) by the same name.
Ms. Boyd currently resides primarily in Toronto, having returned to Canada six years ago after living for 20 years in the US where she still maintains a second home in Palm Beach. Ms. Boyd’s return to Toronto in 2016 was by air ambulance, having fallen in her Palm Beach garage. She suffered a broken knee and shoulder in the fall, after slipping on an errant piece of cardboard, and required a double surgery, performed at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto—but an observer today would never guess the true extent of her injuries she had not mentioned it, she moves as lithely and gracefully as ever. But at the time she found herself helpless and terrified that she would pass out before being able to summon help. Thanks to a “Good Samaritan” who heard her cries from his balcony, she was rescued by the local firemen and a paramedic. Although, until seven years ago, Ms. Boyd has been known almost exclusively for her unique classical guitar style and never sang during her performances, her voice is obviously quite powerful…the Good Samaritan was summoned by her desperate cries from a block away.
Thankfully, that ordeal is fading into just another episode in a fascinating life that has included romantic links to the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (an eight-year romance), father of the current incumbent Justin Trudeau. “That story is all in my first book,” she laughs, referencing her first memoir, the best selling ‘In My Own Key: My Life in Love and Music’ which is now being released as a paperback and eBook and later an audiobook. This latest memoir picks up where her first left off back in 1998.
Ms. Boyd has led a most remarkable, international life, a friend of the Canadian poet and minstrel Leonard Cohen “we used to have tea at a restaurant in Beverly Hills and discuss poetry, lyrics and his involvement with Buddhism.” Then there is of course Prince Philip, “A fascinating man, I played a private recital for him in Windsor Castle earlier this year.” She dedicated her song ‘Love of the Horse’ to Prince Philip knowing of his lifelong involvement with the equestrian world.
The classical guitarist shares a deep love of nature and animals with the 96-year-old prince who recently retired from public duty. “He was the head of the World Wildlife Federation you know,” she smiles. “Right now I am deeply concerned about what is happening to our environment and one of my songs is called ‘A Prayer for Planet Earth.’
Besides playing in most of the major venues across the world, Ms. Boyd has always tried to include performance in smaller venues “from Kathmandu to Calcutta to Moose Factory, whenever I could fit them in,” she confided. On her CD ‘The Return…to Canada with Love’ Ms. Boyd recorded a song ‘Little Towns’ dedicated to those audiences that over the decades filled her concert halls.
Former Expositor scribe Dave Schinbeckler of Mindemoya can attest to her history of playing intimate venues in smaller towns, he recalled interviewing Ms. Boyd when she played Espanola 30 years ago. Mr. Schinbeckler caught sight of the online reference to Ms. Boyd being on Manitoulin posted by The Expositor just following the interview. Mr. Schinbeckler, himself a talented guitarist, made no secret of his envy of this reporter’s opportunity to interview her this time around. “She is simply amazing,” he said.
“I know several people who come up here to Manitoulin Island,” said Ms. Boyd. “I have always wanted to come to visit, now I am glad I have, it is such a beautiful and serene place. Quite a refreshing contrast to Toronto.”
Ms. Boyd said that she has always found the quiet peace of a rural setting a good place to write.
The globetrotting performer returned to the stage in 2009 after a six-year hiatus due to a condition that impacted her being able to perform. “Nothing was physically wrong with my body at all.” she said. “The media always seem to get that wrong, and my hands have always been fine.”
Musician’s Focal Dystonia occurs when you over practice any instrument and the maps in the brain start to get confused, she explains. Not one to give up, the consummate professional relearned her technique and is definitely still in very fine form, to which The Expositor can attest as she played her recently written ‘Song For Ontario’ on her friend’s guitar for this scribe. We will not print Mr. Schinbeckler’s envious response upon hearing that bit of news.
Ms. Boyd’s music has always been infused with love, a love for her home province (although she was born in London, England), a love of nature, a love of the environment and a love of animals—but her greatest love is for the guitar.
“I fell in love with it when I was 13,” she said. It is a serious affair that has come at its own personal cost. “My husband told me that there were three of us in our marriage, him, me and my guitar. He told me the guitar would have to go. After 14 years I asked him for a divorce, but we are still good friends.”
Often songwriters gain inspiration from their own lives, but sometimes they borrow the stories told from their friends and sisters or plucked from their imagination—and that can bring some amusing moments in life. For instance, the line ‘I should have met you many years ago’ prompted an excited query from her mother. “She called and said ‘who did you meet?’,” she recalled with a laugh. “I told her ‘no one!’,” Ms. Boyd smiled as she added, “I am still single, but always hopeful I’ll find love again.”
“My first song on the CD with a syncopated Latin rhythm is called ‘Femme Fatale.’ I was never that, but I confess to being an incurable romantic,” she said. Ms. Boyd noticed that men were attracted to her romantic image (see photo of the guitarist included with this article or any OF the innumerable album or magazine covers that feature her). “But I seem to have been the one who invariably left them, even since back when I was a teenager.”
Ms. Boyd relates in her new book how she has worked and collaborated with many men in her circle, but most of those she spoke about during coffee, including Prince Philip she firmly placed in the category of friend, not romance.
“One of my new songs is called ‘Nothing’s as Cruel as Time’ and another ‘People Who Care For the Animals’,” she said. “My songs are often very personal and somewhat autobiographical.”
Ms. Boyd recalled seeing a quotation on a church billboard by Henry David Thoreau, ‘There is no remedy for love but to love more.’ “I wondered if anyone had used that for a song,” she said, and set down to write the song ‘No Remedy For Love’ that she dedicated to Leonard Cohen, who told her he liked the demo she had sent him. “It’s a rather cynical song that does not express my own philosophy on love however,” she remarked. That would be one of those vicarious sources of inspiration noted earlier.
Ms. Boyd said that she is happy to “inspire boomers that it is never too late to reinvent oneself” and that she is “still excited to tour,” which is great news for her Island fans. She is currently reviving her repertoire from her three Christmas CDs for her 2017 Christmas tour performances. “I would love to come back to Manitoulin to play,” she said gazing out over the lake, before adding the qualification: “In the summer.”
In the meantime, Ms. Boyd is enjoying a few days of well-deserved peace at her friend Mary Inkster’s cottage. “I have met a couple of her sons and they all play music,” she said. She enjoyed what she described as a wonderful spontaneous evening of music they shared a couple of days ago.
Ms. Boyd’s entire back catalogue of work is available online for download through iTunes and her book ‘No Remedy for Love’ is available for pre-order at Amazon.ca.
