Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock Hardcover – March 8, 2016

Having visited Woodstock in the early 70s and not being privy to the deep "behind-scenes" music world of this charming town I'd always been curious to what was really going down there musically speaking. SMALL TOWN TALK sure provided me with all of that and much more: Its anostalgic and fascinating inside account of the rock 'n roll genius-legends of the time who either lived in Woodstock or often passed through to create what has turned out to be the veritable anthems of rock 'n roll. It's also an account of the rock music business and industry, and how that behemoth too often clashed with the pure, innocent creative souls of the artists with many unpleasant consequences. Through the beauty of Woodstock - including the haze of pot and all kinds of other drugs that swept its way into the brains of some of the most creative and successful rockers of our time - we come to better appreciate how this small town north of "the city" became a magnet for the rock and folk geniuses that left their indelible stamp on an entire generation. It's a hell-of-a-read and certainly one of those important contributions to the history of this time and the music and musicians that made all of that history and music so indelible. Did my mind actually hear many of the classic tunes that were part of our collective experiences of the time for most of the read? You bet it did! Frankly, I had no idea that one small town in rural New York State contributed to enormously to perhaps the most important chapter in music history. And this gem of a book explains how that all happened.

"Small Town Talk is the story of what happened after Sally and Albert Grossman came to Woodstock." Barney Hoskyns."Every summer I get this longing in my bones to be back in Woodstock." Maria Muldaur."Woodstock is like a Venus flytrap. Whether you get stuck to it or not depends on whether your vibration is in harmony with it." Elliott Landy, photographer famous for his photographs of The Band in Woodstock.If you're tired of the same old observations, points of view, and/or reminiscences about Woodstock, you should read this book. The author, Barney Hoskyns, who wrote (among other things) the great book "Hotel California", has taken a different approach to his book on Woodstock, "the mountains of the mind." This isn't focused solely on the three day festival but instead on a sometimes more personal look (he lived there several years) at the area itself and the people drawn to it beginning (roughly) with the Woodstock Folk Festival in 1962, after briefly describing the "unspoiled landscape that for five thousand years had been home to Native Americans".Yes, included are a number of musicians we all know (Dylan, The Band, Paul Butterfield, etc.) who lived in the area, but also people who're intertwined with that area like Tim Hardin, Janis Joplin, singer Karen Dalton, Peter Yarrow (Peter Paul & Mary), fugitive/singer Bobby Charles (Guidry) whose self-titled album according to the author "may be the quintessential Woodstock album", who wrote "See You Later, Alligator" in the '50s, the Traum brothers, Van Morrison, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, producer John Simon, singer Jesse Winchester (his first great Bearsville album is close to a country sounding album by The Band), Jimi Hendrix, and others. On the jazz side there's German musician Karl Berger, Jack DeJohnette, Marilyn Crispell, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, and others all who lived in the area. On a side note there's a 2 CD set ("The Song Is You") recorded at the Woodstock Jazz Festival which includes DeJohnette, Braxton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and several other great musicians. Writers included Phillip Roth, Ed Sanders, and Allen Ginsberg.Dylan's manager/minder, Albert Grossman ("the Baron of Bearsville") is also included at length--his power during this period was undeniable--not only as a manager, but also as someone who oversaw a number of enterprises (studios, the Bearsville record label, local businesses) in the Woodstock area, and who ruled over people who came into his orbit with a tight fist and his discerning eye for a buck. Grossman's life and influence on various artists forms the major foundation for the book. He's at the core of how that entire area changed beginning in the sixties, for better and for worse depending on who you talk to, and in the book Hoskyns gives ample space for many opinions and observations from a number of people closely aligned to Grossman from both famous and not so famous musicians to waitresses, bartenders, and others who were there during those years.Hoskyns has also included people outside the limelight if you will--the artists, the schemers, dealers, and others who attached themselves (or tried) to anyone who looked to be making money, and who had to endure a sometimes rough life in the harsh winters. Through firsthand interviews with people who were there at the time Hoskyns puts together a picture of this small town which came to be so important to so many--and especially how both Grossman and Dylan changed the area after moving there. Included is a Prologue, a guide map of the area (complete with a numbered list of important places--"Todd Rungren's house", "Big Pink", "Paul Butterfield's house", "Levon Helm's barn", "Byrdcliffe Theater", etc.-- with corresponding numbers on the map), a list of what Hoskyns calls "25 Timeless Tracks", notes on the chapters, Bibliography, and an Index. Interspersed throughout the book are a number of small b&w photos and other ephemera that add depth to the story. There's also eight pages of glossy b&w photos, a few (like Dylan on a trampoline with his kids) that don't usually make it into other books (unless you've seen some of them in Landy's book, "The Band Photographs 1968-1969") we've all seen about Dylan/The Band/Woodstock. And since I mentioned Landy's book I have to say that if you're a deep fan of The Band during their Woodstock era, Landy has published some great photographs that give a deeper look and some insight into what that period was like when The Band lived in the area.Bottom line--if that period of music and the artists associated with the Woodstock area appeals to you, plus a focused look at how that area changed over the years, including some people who usually don't get the limelight, you should check this book out. When I first heard about this book I thought, "Uh-oh, another book on Woodstock". Well it is and it isn't. Hoskyns has taken a different approach and it's a refreshing change from the usual Woodstock/peace/love/tie-dye/mud/flowers stuff we've all read before. Not only is it about the area and the people, but he's tied in other notable events from the same period which gives more of a foundation and insight into the basic premise of what this book is about. This book can sit on the shelf next to other thoughtful books on the Woodstock era.And I have to mention another great book involving many musicians/artists from the same period, "The Smith Tapes: Interviews With Rock Stars & Icons 1969-1972", edited by Ezra Bookstein. These pieces were culled from the late Howard Smith's tapes, found after Smith's death. Smith's position as a writer for the Village Voice and his radio show gave him access to many people. This is another great book that deserves to be on your shelf if you're interested in that period of music. The selected pieces really bring those years back into focus for those who were around then, or give a good idea of what it was like for those who weren't.

Great book about the Woodstock scene, and scenesters, of the 60s and 70s. The town as we've come to think of it was essentially built around manager-and-more Albert Grossman. Jazz hipster Ben Sidran once said of Grossman that his name should have been hyphenated. And this book is a warts-and-all. That may not sound so exciting to you, but Grossman, of course, was manager of Dylan, the Band, Janis Joplin, and many others who lived in Woodstock. I, for one, never knew that Janis, Van Morrison, Hendrix, lived there. This books gives you the backstory on all of them. It is a great read that only gets a bit tiring after those folks have split and/or died. Highly recommended.

Well, everything except Woodstock, which didn't happen at Woodstock. No matter, much of music...all of it, the creative, hard living side as well as the sweet but nasty, mean business side of things...as it unfolded in the 60s on the east coast, well, it was above New York City and inside the Catskills. No more synopses...just get the damn book, read it and read it twice like I did, and put another focus ring on the mystery of the 60s.

I enjoyed this entire book immensely. I got it mainly for some deep background on Dylan's retreat to Woodstock during the Basement Tapes era (1966) as well as hoping for additional details on Van Morrison's stay in Woodstock encompassing his "Caledonia / Street Choir" rehearsals. I was intrigued with this era because I bought some reels from the estate of a record producer (Andy Robinson) that included a reel of Dylan and George Harrison composing songs, and several Van Morrison reels marked "rehearsals." This book has several chapters on these events, plus a ton more. At the time that I bought the Dylan and Morrison reels, I was also offered many more from the Band as well as the Traum brothers, but that was outside my scope of interest. Now that I've read this book on the vibrant musical community in Woodstock and surrounding towns, I probably would have enjoyed those other reels, too. I have a friend with a house on one of the mountains in the area, which I haven't visited in close to two decades, and now that I've read this book, I am inspired to make a return visit.

I'm giving this four for the author, whose Waiting for the Sun I adore. BH writes well as ever, but his subjects just fails to interest beyond a certain point.Of Dylan we know enough already and the rest of them seem mainly a motley bunch of unappealing characters without the wherewithall to keep themselves from destroying their lives and their music. Endless 'Americana' (or, as Todd Snider puts it: "unsuccessful country music"), jamming, cocaine, boozing, infidelities, breakdowns, suicides. There isn't an underlying narrative after the big names have fled town beyond some vague connection with Woodstock or the repulsive Albert Grossmann.Could have benefited from a discography, although any of the music I've taken the trouble to search out sounds even more rambling and maudlin than the books later chapters. You actually end up wondering whether The Band should have included the word 'Bar' in their name.

I have not finished reading it , but I am enjoying it.

Barney Hoskyns can always be relied upon to tell an excellent story. This time he has turned to look at the "socio-cultural history of Woodstock the town". This book has very little to do with the famous Woodstock festival of 1969 although it is mentioned. More importantly, it focuses on the town of Woodstock itself and describes its development and importance in the late 60s and beyond. The cast of characters is long and exceptional including Bob Dylan, the Band, Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield, Todd Rundgren and a host of others. However, the main thread in the book and the link to all these characters is the manager and businessman, Albert Grossman.Starting with his relationship to Bob Dylan and moving through the story of his involvement with the other main players, Albert Grossman is seen as the catalyst which led to the growing importance of Woodstock as place to "get away from it all". Grossman's business acumen, his reputation for "getting things done" and his growing influence in the music world gave him the financial ability to buy up large areas of property which he could offer to his clients. Barney Hoskyns' story details the complex relationships which developed and foundered in this small part of America; it tells of success and failure. It is both fascinating and, ultimately, quite sad.Although it wasn't actually the site of the Festival, the town of Woodstock never really recovered from that association and it rapidly became a place for hippy pilgrimages. The local business community was happy to cash in on the myth with souvenir shops and health food stores.I strongly recommend this book.

There have been thousands of books written about popular music. Most of them are comparatively slight, and after reading them they often leave you wondering who half the characters described are, or what else was going on whilst the events being described happened, or how various protagonists were related to each other. Other books are dominated by the author's ill-informed or ill-considered opinions which devalue their worth.It is gratifying that Hoskyns book has produced such a well written and entertaining book.He has chosen a location and time of one of the most interesting periods in 'rock history'. Bob and the Band are centre stage, and we get a great deal of information about the Basement tapes recordings, the only source that rivals this book are the 'Wanted Man' magazines which are sadly no longer published.When the Basement Tapes box set was released last year there were curious pictures of Bob in Dungarees wearing a Davy Crocket fur hat. When I saw this I wondered what that was all about. Thankfully, Hoskyns mentions this. He also mentions various associates of Hendrix whose relationship with Jimi has never been properly described. Another shadowy character is Albert Grossman, who comes to life here, in particular his part in assisting his artist clients' success. He remains an ambivalent figure. There is also interesting information on Van Morrison. I thoroughly recommend this book. The author has produced some excellent books, including 'Raging Glories', and this book is another. Very Well done!

I've enjoyed all the other Barney Hoskyns books I've read, and was pleased to be able to pick this up - by coincidence, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Woodstock festival yesterday. Most people know that the festival site was at Bethel, some sixty miles from the eponymous town, but what might not be so obvious is the reason why the festival was given that name. This book explains everything, describing the history of the town as an early bolthole for artists from New York, followed by a dazzling array of musicians from the early 1960s: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield, Todd Rundgren, Dave Holland, Tim Hardin, Maria Muldaur, Graham Parker, and many others of whom I hadn't previously heard.The relationship between some of these characters and the idiosyncratic, controversial Albert Grossman (who was one of the earliest residents of the town) is explored in detail: Grossman was Dylan's manager in 1962-70, and wanted to build an empire around his other clients, who included Janis Joplin, Peter Paul & Mary, The Band and Rundgren. This had a physical manifestation in the town: he bought up houses, opened restaurants and built the Bearsville recording studio nearby. The highs and lows of his life (which was ended by a heart attack whilst flying to London on Concorde) are traced out adeptly, as is the way they reflected the fortunes of the town itself.Other strands include a brisk but complete account of the festival's genesis, a re-telling of the sad story of The Band (which Hoskyns treats at greater length in his excellent "Across The Great Divide") and some description of the musical evolution of Dylan and Morrison during this time. It's a stimulating, interesting read, which does a good job of evoking the spirit of the place and its heyday, and reminds us that all good things come to an end.