A local Native American will be receiving a prestigious award for his music in New York this week. 58 year old Jim Boyd has been entertaining audiences for decades, and this week, will be honored with a Lifetime achievement award at the annual Native American Music Awards ceremony.
Previously Boyd, of the Colville Confederated Tribes, had received several other awards, including Record of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. Boyd has been playing guitar since he was in junior high, and originally was a lead guitar player for cover bands, before he began writing songs in his 30’s.
Since then he has released 14 albums of his music on a label he started, Thunderwolf records.
Boyd “Knowing that I was going to produce and record non-commercial music, in those days there were very few people doing that, so I knew that was the music I was going to produce, so I have to do it.”
He describes his music as “Raw Rez-and-Roll.” Boyd also worked with Author Sherman Alexie to create the music for the movie Smoke Signals. Boyd’s career has taken an interesting turn in recent years, as he is now chair of the Colville Tribal Business Council.
