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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Boyd’s work garners ‘old guy award’

Local songwriter to receive lifetime achievement honor

Jim Boyd, a member of the Arrow Lakes Indian Tribe, will receive a lifetime achievement recognition from the Native American Music Awards in New York this weekend.

When he was younger, fronting cover bands and playing rock gigs in bars and clubs, local singer-songwriter Jim Boyd says he never really paid much attention to the lyrics. They really didn’t matter to him – in fact, he recalls turning up his guitar during some shows so it would drown out the words he’d just barely memorized.

He didn’t start writing his own music until he was well into his 30s, right around the time he stopped drinking, and he says the process was almost therapeutic at first.

“I just started writing very simple lyrics about issues that I hadn’t dealt with in my life,” Boyd said. “I started getting into things I hadn’t really worried about before. I definitely didn’t consider myself a lyricist. I actually thought it was almost spiritual. I didn’t edit anything at that time. I felt like somebody was almost dictating and I was just writing down these thoughts.”

Boyd, 58, is a member of the Arrow Lakes tribe, which is one of 12 tribes that make up the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He has independently released 14 albums through his Thunderwolf Records label, and he most famously contributed songs to the soundtrack of the acclaimed 1998 film “Smoke Signals.” Tonight, Boyd receives a lifetime achievement recognition from the Native American Music Awards in New York.

“It’s such an honor,” Boyd said. “It’s the old guy award – I’ve been around long enough to receive a lifetime achievement award.”

As a kid growing up on various military bases, Boyd says he was obsessed with everything he heard on early ’60s radio, and the drive to become a musician hit early.

“I remember trying to build my own drum set when I was in fourth grade out of cardboard,” Boyd recalled. “I probably didn’t pick up an instrument and it was a guitar in sixth grade. My brother used to play – it was his guitar – and I used to sneak his guitar out from under his bed, and that’s how I learned to play. I just picked it up and started.”

The guitar broke him out of his shell, and he eventually started playing in his older brother’s rock band.

“Even as a kid, I was mostly an introvert, and I still am – I still like being out in the woods by myself,” Boyd said. “Having an instrument has always helped me communicate, and it’s easier for me to communicate through songwriting or lyrics.”

Boyd’s songs revolve around everything from Native American culture to political issues to the joys of riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and the music varies in style from rock to folk to bluegrass to traditional Native American sounds. Although his day job has slightly curbed his musical output – Boyd currently serves as chairman of the Colville Business Council – he’s still actively writing and playing the occasional gig, including this year’s Pig Out in the Park.

“I haven’t really played as a musician the way I used to for probably five years, but I still record and write and produce,” he said. “I write about the same things, but I don’t put everything out.”

Boyd has previously won seven awards from NAMA, but this is, he said, the most significant honor he’s ever received. (Previous recipients of NAMA’s lifetime achievement award include the Band’s Robbie Robertson, singer Rita Coolidge and R&B group the Neville Brothers).

This will also be the first NAMA ceremony Boyd has attended since 2009, when he won an Artist of the Year award, and he’ll be performing two songs – appropriately enough, one will be a mellow and contemplative “healing song,” and the other will be a rocker called “Hellraisers on Harleys.”

“I’ve been around awhile and I’ve been working the scene for a lot of years, and it’s neat to be recognized for almost everything you’ve done,” Boyd said. “It was such a huge surprise, and such a great surprise. It’s still kind of sinking in now. … Not many people have that award, and I’m very honored to receive it.”

And because most of his songs are about or were inspired by his experiences on and around the Colville reservation, Boyd says that performing in New York this evening will be like bringing the entire tribe along with him.

“I think that was the first thing I thought of when it hit me: I get to take the reservation with me again,” he said. “It’s just so special.”