Despite being from
Boston, he was a co-founder, of sorts, of the
British
strains of
folk-rock and
psychedelia. Boyd, among other
activities in Boston and
Greenwich Village, owned a folk club, during the
days of the early-
60s folk music boom. He ended up working in
London,
for New York
indie (at the time) Elektra Records, where one of his first productions was The Powerhouse, a one-off band (assembled for a 1966 compilation LP) including
Eric Clapton, the
pseudonymous "Steve Anglo", and
Manfred Mann's
Jack Bruce and Paul Jones.
He also co-founded the UFO Club in '66; it became a big venue for nascent psychedelic bands like The Pink Floyd and The Soft Machine. Boyd produced the Floyd's first 45 for EMI, as well as one for Soft Machine, plus The Incredible String Band's first recordings for Elektra. Branching out further, Boyd formed Witchseason Productions, handling the careers and recordings of the Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and John and Beverley Martyn, among others, on into the early 70s, before retiring from management and returning to the US to work for Warner Bros. Pictures.
He would unretire in the 80s, forming Hannibal Records, where he remains
the boss today, as well as an exec with Rykodisc, Hannibal's current owner.