When Nick Drake dies in 1974 at the age of 26, he has made three wonderful records that will remain an insider tip for a select group of fans for twenty-five years - despite constant, overt, loving recommendations from trendsetters and influencers like Paul Weller, Robert Smith of The Cure, John Cale, the men of R.E.M. and Kate Bush. Without much effect, still; until 1999, the three albums, added up, sold about four thousand copies a year.

Bizarrely, a few snippets of the song "Pink Moon" in a Volkswagen commercial are then all it takes to turn the tide. From 2000, record sales shoot up, as does the general recognition of the beauty of Drake's music. Exceptional songs like "Pink Moon", "Northern Sky" and "Black Eyed Dog" penetrate the canon, and above them towers perhaps the most beautiful of all: "River Man".

Nick Drake's River Man - a very British masterpiece takes the reader through the genesis of the song, the special magic of the music, the enigmatic poetry of the lyrics and the reverberations of the song in the twenty-first century.