Book Review: SMALL TOWN TALK by Barney Hoskyns

The latest book from renowned music writer Barney Hoskyns focuses on the small town of Woodstock in New York state, which gave its name to one of the most famous rock festivals ever.

By the time the event took place, Woodstock had already made its mark on the ’60s rock landscape, as the place where Bob Dylan holed up after his 1966 motorcycle accident and recorded The Basement Tapes. In Small Talk, Hoskyns examines the community of musicians, wheeler-dealers and oddball characters who populated Woodstock during its mid-’60s heyday.

Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman looms large and the book also touches on the Woodstock experiences of artists such as Van Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. A vivid and compelling account of a unique period in rock history, Small Town Talk is an ideal east coast companion to Hoskyns’ LA Canyon classic, Hotel California.

Faber & Faber