Will Hodgkinson's "The Ballad of Britain"

Will Hodgkinson is currently my favorite music writer. I am a mega-fan of his "Guitar Man" and "Song Man." In this new book he travels around Britain to record traditional British folk music and its living artists. And like his other books, Hodgkinson is the main character in the narrative who sort of bumbles along his travels to reach his goal. So in many ways this is also a travel journal as well as a study on contemporary British folk. And its not a history book, but more of a journal of an on-going investigation of what is Folk Music and what it is in contemporary Britain. 

A man of great charm and wit, he sets himself up as an everyman, but his ambition sets him as someone special in my eyes. Enjoyable travel with interesting music on the side.