Jim Boyd (1956-2016)

by Sean Aaron Cruz

Jim Boyd was a member of the Arrow Lakes Tribe, one of the 12 tribes that make up the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and was serving as the Colville tribal chairman at the time of his passing.

His career as a musician spanned some 40 years. He was a singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer and bandleader who recorded 14 albums and contributed four songs to the 1998 movie Smoke Signals soundtrack, the first commercial feature film to be written, directed and acted by Indigenous people. Jim received nine Native American Music Awards (NAMA) honorings, including Lifetime Achievement.

In addition to his work as a solo artist or leading the Jim Boyd Band, he was a member of XIT, Greywolf and Winterhawk over the course of his career.

“Jim Boyd, a noted singer-songwriter and chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, died Tuesday of natural causes, his family said. He was 60.

“Boyd began playing guitar as a child in a military family, graduating to cover and rock bands. He began writing his own music when he was in his 30s and contributed four songs to the soundtrack of the 1998 film “Smoke Signals.” In 2014, he received a lifetime-achievement award from the Native American Music Awards.

“Closer to home, he has been tribal chairman since 2014.

“Poet and novelist Sherman Alexie met Boyd in 1992, and the men soon began writing music together, Alexie said Wednesday.

“Boyd was a member of the Arrow Lakes Band, one of the 12 tribes that make up the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. In a 2014 interview, Boyd said his work for the tribe had curbed his artistic output somewhat, though he continued to write and perform when he could.

“’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.’” (Source: Seattle Times)

Rock, folk, blues, traditional, bluegrass

Musician, singer, songwriter, bandleader, Colville Tribal Chairman

Guitar, Vocals