Joe Boyd Biography

Joe Boyd is a record producer and writer known for his memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. Artists he has produced include Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, REM, Taj Mahal, Fairport Convention, Richard & Linda Thompson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Toots and the Maytals, Sandy Denny, 10,000 Maniacs, and many others across a nearly sixty-year career. 

After graduating from Harvard in 1964, Boyd tour-managed Muddy Waters, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and others, then served as production manager for the historic 1965 Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. He moved to London to open the UK office of Elektra Records and started the famous UFO Club, original home to Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. His production company, Witchseason, set the course for folk and folk-rock music in Britain. 

Boyd moved to Los Angeles in 1971 to work for Warner Brothers Films. In 1979 he launched Hannibal Records, which led the way for bringing global artists to Western audiences, including Cuban, Malian, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Spanish artists. A gifted raconteur, he appears frequently on the BBC and other radio outlets. His music podcast, Joe Boyd’s A-Z has received over a quarter of a million visits.

His latest book And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain will be published in September 2024.