Liona Boyd - No Remedy for Love

Liona Boyd is an uncommonly unique woman.

Most of the world knows her as a guitarist. She was one of the first women if not the very first to be recognized widely as a virtuoso in the male-dominated world of the classical guitar.

Without having heard any of her recordings, in 1977 I saw an ad for a Liona Boyd concert in Gammage Auditorium, Frank Lloyd Wrights shrine to musical performance in the middle of the scorching Arizona desert. Curious, but not able to convince any of my rock guitar friends to join me, I grabbed the last remaining single seat, which happened to be in the front row.

I sat rock-concert fashion, with my feet propped up on the stage, and watched as the lights dimmed. Ms. Boyd appeared, striding into the hall in a floor-length dress to a small seat at centre stage.

In only a few moments, her playing had transfixed the crowd and me. Here was a beautiful woman playing stunning guitar. She was warm and enchanting, and she had an alluring smile that danced around the edges of her playing. She was also charming, her voice lilting when she addressed the audience. Although she was focused on every superbly played note, she also looked like she was enjoying herself. Against all preconceived notions, I had a splendid time.

That concert changed my idea of not only what classical guitar could be, but also what the guitar itself could be. Every musician has several points in their life when they realize there is much more to their instrument than they ever realized, and that day, sitting in front of Lionas stage, was one of mine.

In the ensuing years, I became a magazine editor and watched Liona take her classical pedigree into other realms, playing with musicians in wildly disparate genres. This was something few other classical guitarists dared do. Indeed, she became a personality as grand as her guitar playing. With her subsequent recordings and collaborations with everyone from Eric Clapton and Chet Atkins to Yo-Yo Ma, it readily became apparent to the universe of guitar players that Liona was personally and professionally intent on pushing the boundaries of the instrument. No other classical guitarists had ever made multiple appearances with Johnny Carson.

Yet Liona is actually a woman of many talents: guitar playing just happens to be the one for which she is most famous. In the following pages her other talents come to the fore. Her talent for self-discovery, her talent for reinvention, and her incredible perseverance emerge in this book as brightly as her musicianship. Above and beyond these talents, though, her ability to craft an engaging story that brings readers along for the ride is perhaps her most unexpected talent. Because, it turns out, she is a wonderful storyteller.

Liona has always been a writer of original classical music, of songs, of poetry, of a previous autobiography and she has found a beautiful voice through the words she puts on a page. The years that have shaped her life into something remarkable have also shaped her into an artist who writes as lyrically when discussing her friendships, relationships, and adventures as when depicting heartbreak and meretricious business associates.

Her writing skills are all the more appealing because her colourful memoir is not the clichd tome of an artists rise to stardom with the accompanying trappings of success. Instead, it is a very real and very human story. Lionas life is one of marvellous extremes. In the course of her lifetime she has attracted and encountered an extraordinary universe of personalities and situations. There have been celebrities, parties, and encounters with people as diverse as Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Cruise, Fidel Castro, and Ronald Reagan, and travels to exotic cities around the world. And there are even long-term friendships out of the public eye, notably with Prince Philip, a confidant and adviser who has been a constant in Lionas life for three decades, pen in hand.