Boyd and Wain is an English acoustic Anglo/American roots folk Americana duo comprising American singer-songwriter Katy Boyd and English violinist Benny Wain.
Katy Boyd grew up in Menlo Park on Perry Lane - a Bohemian, part of the counter culture hub of writers, artists and musicians which included Ken Kesey[1] and whose frequent visitors included the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia [2]. Boyd cites her earliest influence as Joan Baez[3], who was a local Palo Alto resident and who Boyd had met several times when she was young[4]. After attending University of California Santa Cruz she become a full time songwriter. In the early 1980s, Boyd won what is now the West Coast Songwriters Association’s annual song writing contest[5] and moved to the UK. Boyd married, remained in England and gave up performing. However, upon the canonizeation of her ex-hsband into folklore sainthood, she began writing and performing again, finally securing a recording deal with Goldtop Recordings (Jungle Records)[6].
Benny Wain started his professional music career playing in the family band The Sidling Stompers out of Sydling St Nicholas in Dorset at the age of 12. The band, which included his younger sister, Nina Wain, had great success all over Southern England, and were played on Radio 2's FOLK ON TWO. They formed folk rock band Jigsaw in the 1990's, a version of which is still playing in the South West of England.
Benny Wain and Katy Boyd met playing in function band "Howling at the Moon" [7]. The duo formed in May 2009. In July 2009 they won the Trowbridge Villiage Pump Unsigned Act Competition [8]. Judges included Keith Donnelly, festival organizers and one audience member. They have gone on to play major festivals in the UK including Tolpuddle, the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival, Bath Party In the City, Wimborne Folk Festival and The Brighton Fringe. They have toured the US several times. The first album "Ain't No Fairy Tale" appeared in the RMR (Roots Music Report) Folk Radio Chart several times in the summer on 2010 [9].