It is a rare find, someone who can put into words the pure complications, the rewards, the pain and the often tight grip of uncertainty that true love brings. Through his music, in just four short years, John Boyd has created a heartbreaking resume of missed opportunities, lost love and outright loneliness.
"I leave it all in the studio and on the pages. When I am finished writing and recording a song, only then can I detach myself from the ache of it all, whatever that may be. I understand that my music isn't mainstream. I understand that my audience is comprised of mainly the lonely and the lost becasue my music follows a certain theme. And as sad as that theme is I can't grab hold of another. When your father dies tragically and your mother dies of cancer and all your relationships ( but the one that saved you ) end up in the tar pits, there's going to be a theme and it's going to be what it is. I sell it as a cocktail; 2 parts sadness. 2 parts hope."
On his first try, recorded with a ten dollar microphone, John earned one of the most sought after newcomer awards in Canada: The Factor New Talent Demo Award. Using the funds from this cash award he went on to record "See My Cat", his debut CD which now sits proudly in Canada's Library Archives where it will rest alongside the nations finest recordings for centuries to come.
Born in Toronto Ontario, John grew up no stranger to extremely hard times. Although he speaks little of his past, carefully choosing his words and the stories he wishes to tell, it does shed some light on where his muse for songwriting originates. Listen to almost any track and you get the feeling you're eavesdropping on a man sitting peacefully in some quiet room strumming on an old guitar or playing sad, desperate notes on a worn piano and simply singing singing to no one and for no one but himself. Miraculously, any drums or bass that find their way into a song are almost instantaneously tuned out until all you're left with is the sound of a gentle man - exposed, shy, magnetic and terribly complex.
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