Joe Boyd

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Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.^[1]

1 Career
2 Records produced or co-produced by Joe Boyd
3 References
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Career

Boyd was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Princeton, New Jersey.^[2] He first became involved in music promoting blues artists while a student at Harvard University, and in 1964 made his first visit to Britain, returning the following year to establish an overseas office of Elektra Records. He was eventually to settle in London.

He became best-known for his work with British folk and folk rock artists, including the Incredible String Band, Martin Carthy, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson. Some of these were produced by his own production company, Witchseason. He also co-founded London's UFO Club and worked with UFO regulars Pink Floyd (producing their first single Arnold Layne) and the Soft Machine.

Boyd returned to the States in the 1970s, assembling footage for the eponymous film documentary on Jimi Hendrix (1973) and producing records by Maria Muldaur and Kate and Anna McGarrigle among others. He went on to found his own Hannibal label (now a part of Rykodisc) which released records by the likes of Richard Thompson and various discs of so-called world music. Boyd also produced R.E.M.'s third album Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), and records by Billy Bragg and 10,000 Maniacs.

He was Executive Producer for the 1988 feature film Scandal, starring John Hurt and Bridget Fonda about Britain's Profumo Scandal. He left Hannibal/Ryko in 2001 and has written a book about making music in the 1960s called "White Bicycles", published in May 2006 by Serpents Tail Press in the UK.

[edit] Records produced or co-produced by Joe Boyd

The Incredible String Band (The Incredible String Band) (1966)
Lord of the Dance (Sydney Carter) (1966)
The Power of the True Love Knot (Shirley Collins) (1967)
Rags Reels and Airs (Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy & Diz Disley) (1967)
Arnold Layne/ Candy and a Currant Bun (single by Pink Floyd) (1967)
Very Urgent (Chris McGregor) (1968)
Fairport Convention (Fairport Convention) (1968)
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (The Incredible String Band) (1968)
Wee Tam & Big Huge (The Incredible String Band) (1968)
What We Did On Our Holidays (Fairport Convention) (1969)
Unhalfbricking (Fairport Convention) (1969)
Five Leaves Left (Nick Drake) (1969)
Liege & Lief (Fairport Convention) (1969)
Kip of the Serenes (Dr. Strangely Strange) (1969)
Just Another Diamond Day (Vashti Bunyan) (1970)
Bryter Layter (Nick Drake) (1970)
Stormbringer! (John and Beverley Martyn) (1970)
U (Incredible String Band) (1970)
Desertshore (Nico) (1971)
Brotherhood of Breath (Brotherhood of Breath) (1971)
Smiling Men with Bad Reputations (Mike Heron) (1971)
The Road to Ruin (John and Beverley Martyn) (1971)
Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur) (1973)
Duelling Banjos/ Reuben's Train (single by Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandel) (1973)
Waitress in a Donut Shop (Maria Muldaur) (1974)
Junco Partner (James Booker) (1976)
Shoot Out the Lights (Richard and Linda Thompson) (1982)
Hand of Kindness (Richard Thompson) (1983)
Small Town Romance (Richard Thompson) (1984)
Across a Crowded Room (Richard Thompson) (1985)
Fables of the Reconstruction (R.E.M.) (1985)
The Wishing Chair (10,000 Maniacs) (1985)
London 1966/1967 Pink Floyd (recorded 1967, released 2005)

[edit] References

^ Boyd, Joe, White Bicyles - Making Music in the 1960s, Serpant's Tail, 2006. ISBN 1-85242-910-0
^ Interview with Joe Boyd by Richie Unterberger, accessed 2007-02-26