The National Guitar Museum, based in Orlando, Florida and founded to promote and preserve the legacy of the guitar has awarded Liona Boyd their Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Every year The National Guitar Museum recognizes a guitarist who has made a significant contribution to the legacy of the guitar. For the tenth anniversary of our Lifetime Achievement Award, we are presenting it to Liona Boyd. Long known as “The First Lady Of The Guitar,” Liona was one of the first women to popularize the guitar internationally, and was certainly the very first in the world of classical guitar. Her career has been an inspiration to guitarists around the world, and her recording history is among the most extensive of any classical guitarist. Her ability to branch out into the other realms of music, and work with other notable guitarists, makes her unique among her peers. We are honoured to have Liona as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous lifetime honorees include B.B. King, B.B. King, Glen Campbell and Bonnie Raitt,” said Harvey Newquist, director and founder of the National Guitar Museum.

Reached at her Palm Beach, FL winter home where she is composing music for a new instrumental album, Liona said, “I am both delighted and honoured to receive this award. It is a wonderful recognition of my work and the instrument to which I have devoted my life.”

Liona has received several honours in the United States including a 2018 Lifetime Achievement award from the Joann Falletta International Guitar Competition sponsored by WNED in Buffalo and her induction into the Guitar Player magazine Gallery of the Greats in 1993. Since the beginning of her career in 1974, Liona has released 28 albums (distributed in Canada by Universal Music and by the Orchard internationally), and a recent Christmas special, A Winter Fantasy, was broadcast across PBS stations in the US and on CBC in Canada. 

And as Liona Boyd’s guitar music has often been associated with Valentine’s Day, she posted a playlist on Spotify of her favourite romantic pieces.

Open the Spotify Playlist here:
open.spotify.com/playlist/4v7d8bem0TqVUTly1gX0OK?si=Ig9BFaVHS7e_dIklBS4ozw

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