BEWDLEY Book Week is set to welcome Barney Hoskyns - one of the most important authors in the world of rock music.

The founder of "Rocks Back Pages", his list of best selling books about the giants of music is long and impressive - and features the Band, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell.

His focus at Bewdley Book Week this year will be on his book "Small Town Talk" where Barney recreates Woodstock's community of dysfunctional musicians, scheming dealers and opportunistic hippie capitalists drawn to the area by Dylan and his sidekicks from the Band.

Intertwined in the story are the Woodstock experiences and associations of artists as diverse as Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton and Bobby Charles.

Drawing on numerous first-hand interviews with the remaining key players in the scene, and on the period when he lived there himself in the 1990s, Hoskyns has produced an East Coast companion to his bestselling LA canyon classic "Hotel California". This is a richly absorbing study of a vital music scene in a revolutionary time and place.

Barney Hoskyns will be speaking at Riverside Church Hall on Wednesday, September 6, as part of Bewdley Book Week.

Tickets are £4.50 and are available from the Bewdley Tourist Information Office on 0845 607 7819 or by visiting bewdleybookweek.org.uk.