As a kid Liona Boyd was indeed "the First Lady of the Guitar." She was a player's player, and was considered a great beauty. I remember seeing her on Johnny Carson, and at the time I just thought she was kind of cool, not realizing at the time that few classical guitarists ever performed on his show, let alone a Canadian classical guitar player.
Liona was also very active in musical education. I grew up in a small town in Northern British Columbia and one day Liona Boyd showed up at our school and she didn't speak to us in the big gymnasium, she spoke to individual classes in our small auditorium. I honestly don't remember much about her talk, other than she was there, and she was accessible and gracious, despite a few unruly kids who wouldn't shut up while she played (she did call them out, and I thought that was cool). While she was in town she also played a concert at our local theatre, which was a great venue that seated just over 700 people, but felt huge when full. Our family went to see her and she was riveting.
My first guitar was a classical guitar, an entry level Yamaha my dad bought for me, and I played that guitar all the time, and it's still in my collection. Now to be fair, I am a terrible Flamenco guitar player and my ability to use all of my fingers is inconsistent to this day. I did like the little interludes Rik Emmett would include on Triumph records, and this is the kind of music Liona played, and I have to say it, no offence to Mr. Emmett, she did it better. Although I would be curious to hear her on a cranked Framus semi hollow bodied electric.
In the rock world there was Nancy Wilson who could play, make no mistake, but in the classical arena there was Liona Boyd and she was a master of the instrument. A lot was made of her looks, and she was beautiful, make no mistake - when I saw her she was maybe in her early 30s, but a pretty lady who was shitty on her instrument won't sell records and put bums in seats.
Use what you got, and if you got it, use it. She put bums in seats.
Here I am over forty years (and change) removed from when I saw her, to finding her wonderful Christmas album A Guitar for Christmas and it is the perfect start to December and the countdown to Christmas. I've opened the first little door on my advent calendar, had my coffee and the dog is nestled in his pillow at my feet.
The album is playing in the background while I write this, and I wish it was gently snowing outside instead of raining. Although, a year ago it was snow - and it sucked as traffic and the roads were a shitshow. I'd rather have the sentiment than the real thing.
What I really enjoyed were the arrangements. They were gentle with accompanying orchestra but they didn't feel overly syrupy or thin. This was lush, and Liona's playing was on point and as you'd expect (or hope) she was mixed right up front and she was clean.
The big hits of Christmas were here: "Silent Night" and "The Little Drummer Boy" which was really quite good, as often it can be a little irritating ... along with "Away in a Manger," "What Child is This" and then a few arrangements of some J.S. Bach songs, as well as some originals by Eric Robertson, who produced the album. The album closes with the prelude to one of my favourite Canadian Carols, "Prelude on the Huron Carol."
Then it was over. Time to turn it over and play it again.
I went out recently looking for new Christmas records, in the dollar bin and when I picked up this album (still in the original shrink wrap and in pristine condition) I did it more because I remembered Liona Boyd. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the songs, a bunch of classical / Flamenco arrangements of some Christmas holiday favourites ... instead I got an album full of Christmas awesomeness that featured Liona's guitar playing interwoven into really enjoyable arrangements.
Merry Christmas, only 24 more days to go.
P.S. I loved the little note that said Liona performs on Ramirez and Yamaha guitars ... I have a Yamaha too! If nothing else, we have that in common.
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