Multi-award winning and Gold and Platinum-selling Canadian, ‘First Lady of the Guitar’ Liona Boyd is “Sending Love In The Time Of Corona” by way of a new single available now.
Proceeds from the song’s release will be directed to the Unison Benevolent Fund to help support musicians and industry professionals with counselling and emergency economic relief.
“While bicycling early one morning near my winter house in Palm Beach, Florida, I was anxiously thinking about my friends, family and fans scattered around the world and how we are all having to cope with rapidly changing times due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Boyd shares of the song and its heartfelt inspiration. “I began to hum the melody and lyrics to a little song, which would become ‘Sending Love In The Time Of Corona.’
“I first posted a simple version of the song on YouTube using my computer’s camera. After seeing all the comments fans had kindly posted, I decided to make a more developed version and worked remotely with Andrew Dolson and my producer, Peter Bond, in Canada.
“Wanting to help raise money for the Unison Benevolent Fund, I conceived this song to bring a message of hope and appreciation to those affected, and to those helping others.”
A 2019 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National GUITAR Museum, a hat tip shared by the likes of B.B. King, Glen Campbell, and Bonnie Raitt, Boyd’s illustrious 40+ year career continues to enthral millions with her romantic take on classical, folk and world music.
Recipient of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, she is the winner of five JUNO Awards, five Guitar Player Magazine’s Classical Guitarist of the Year awards, Vanier Award, Women Who Make a Difference award, Prix ‘Esprit du Ciècle, and Artist of the Year and Honorary Mayor of San Antonio, Texas — plus four Honorary Doctorate of Law degrees and an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree.
Since the beginning of her career in 1974, Boyd has released 28 albums, and a Christmas special, A Winter Fantasy, nationally televised via PBS and CBC across the United States and Canada, respectively. She has appeared on countless stages around the world, and collaborated with the likes of Yo Yo Ma, Eric Clapton, Gordon Lightfoot, Tracy Chapman, Olivia Newton-John and Sir Andrew Davis, to name a few.
The author of two books, No Remedy for Love and In My Own Key, Boyd is a dedicated philanthropist and activist for a lengthy selection of charities close to her heart.
She has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Joann Falletta International Guitar Competition and was inducted into Guitar Player Magazine’s Gallery of Greats.
“Sending Love In The Time Of Corona” is available now.
