It’s 1967, the Summer of Love, and Bob Dylan is holed up in Woodstock with a group of musicians once known as The Hawks, laying down a set of recordings that will soon turn the music world on its head. These recordings – the Basement Tapes – would not be released commercially by Dylan at first, but would emerge in the form of cover versions by acts such as The Byrds, Manfred Mann, and Peter Paul & Mary. Together, they would inspire a homespun, back-to-basics approach in the work of The Beatles, the Stones, the Grateful Dead, and many others, while also kick-starting the entire Americana genre.

In this fully revised and updated edition – published to coincide with the release of dozens of previously unreleased Basement Tapes recordings, a major new documentary about the period, and the T Bone Burnett-produced Lost On The River album – author and musician Sid Griffin is given unique access to a cache of more than 40 never-before-heard Basement Tapes recordings, allowing him to shine even greater light on this pivotal yet often misunderstood moment in popular music history.