Patrick Humphries

"How does it feel? To be on your own? With no direction home, like a complete unknown. Like a rolling stone." Bob Dylan, 1965

Having notched up a professional writing and broadcasting career stretching back over 30 years, Patrick Humphries can remember when it was all green fields round here. He began as a "hip young gunslinger" on New Musical Express and later became a staff writer with Melody Maker. He has since contributed to The Observer, Independent, The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Record Collector, Mojo.

Inbetween times, he has written around twenty books, including biographies of Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan; an authorised biography of singer-songwriter Richard Thompson; and the first-ever book about the late Nick Drake.

As a commentator on musical matters, Patrick has appeared on BBC Television, News 24, Channel 5, World Service Television as well as various American networks. He has been a regular contributor to The Radio 2 Arts Programme and The Phill Jupitus Show on BBC 6 Music, and has also appeared on Radios 1, 3, 4 and 5.

For the BBC World Service, he wrote and presented It's Not Only Rock & Roll - a history of singer-songwriters, and four programmes on the music of Paul McCartney. His work for Radio 2 includes series on the sixties satire boom; Flanders & Swann; Elton John; The Bee Gees; The Beach Boys; and Bob Dylan - the latter narrated by Kris Kristofferson. In November 2003 he wrote a two-part series, narrated by Martin Sheen, which became the centrepiece of BBC Radio's commemoration of the Kennedy assassination.