Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival

The guitarists' guitarist and the songwriters' songwriter, Bert Jansch has been admired by stars as diverse as Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Marr, Bob Dylan and Jarvis Cocker. Others who have recorded his songs, befriended him or acknowledged his influence include Paul Simon, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Bernard Butler, Neil Young, Jimmy Page and Morrissey.

Celebrated in the innovative Glasgow/Edinburgh folk and blues community in the late 50s and early 60s, Jansch is an enigmatic man who has always downplayed the accolades. Described by a contemporary as a kind of Scottish James Dean, Jansch has had many relationships with women - he has three children with different mothers - but none has led to long-term domesticity. His problem was alcohol, a by-product of his relentless passion for making and performing music while having a personality ill-suited to the very public processes of doing so.

After abandoning drink in 1988, Jansch became healthier and more productive, but more withdrawn than ever. This biography provides a full account of the life of this influential, but essentially private, man.