A native Californian, Katy Boyd has been making things up for years. She grew up listening to American and Irish folk music, and Tchaikovsky. After a few chance meetings with folk singer and political activist Joan Baez, Katy taught herself to play the guitar. Just after university she won a Northern California song writing contest which distracted her from her intention to go to medical school. However, at the same time she was picked up on the radar by Virgin Records in the UK. Without hesitation Katy packed her bags and headed to England to pursue her record deal. The Virgin deal eventually dried up, but she wasn’t quite ready to come home, so stayed for another 25 years.
Katy gave up playing music and devoted herself to raising kids, making films and messing about on boats. In 2003 put her 4 kids on a 46 foot sailboat and began a trip across the Atlantic stopping for weeks in Portugal and the Canary Islands. In 2004, she went back to playing music full time and landed a small record deal with Goldtop Recordings (Jungle Records) in London. Her debut album “Ain’t No Fairy Tale”, produced by Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe) was in the top 50 of the RMR Folk Chart several times in the summer of 2010.
In 2010 & 2011 Katy was invited to perform at the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival where she met Thomm Jutz, producer and long time guitar player for Nanci Griffiths, and an acclaimed songwriter himself. This friendship brought Katy to Nashville to record her second album in May of 2011.
Katy Boyd has toured in Europe and the across the US, playing some of the biggest music festivals in the world (Glastonbury, Bath Festival, Brighton Fringe, and the very prestigious Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival).
In the summer of 2011 Katy released Paper Hearts, the solo album recorded in Nashville with Thomm Jutz (Nanci Griffiths) producing. The album features notable musicians Justin Moses (Banjo/Mandolin/Fiddle) and bass player Mark Fein, both from Ricky Skaggs’ band Kentucky Thunder, plus Lynn Williams (Delbert McClinton) on drums. The album has been in the top 30 of the Roots Music Report Trad Country chart all year.
In 2011 Katy began a musical partnership with Marty Atkinson (Cactus Choir). Marty is a great singer songwriter and a veteran of three major label recording contracts (EMI, Atlantic & Curb/Universal). They have just finished recording a new album in Nashville, produced by Thomm Jutz (Nanci Griffiths) to be released in early 2012. Like Katy’s solo album, this album includes Banjo/Mandolin/Fiddle player Justin Moses and Bass player Mark Fein from Ricky Skaggs’ band, and Lynn Williams from Delbert McClinton’s band.
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