Long before David Gray shot to stardom, Solva had already claimed its place in the rock and roll Hall of Fame as the birthplace of Wales' premier troubadour.

Solva Blues, Meic Stevens' recently-released autobiography, tells the tale of the Welsh Bob Dylan's rise to fame from his post-war childhood in the seaside village to the Cardiff college of art and the jazz bars of London, Manchester and beyond.

The rise of Meic Stevens is an extraordinary tale. From his early days of wild parties and the clubs of Cardiff's Tiger Bay, to the signing of his first record contract with Decca, his life was one of music, mayhem and cider.

He flits casually between the periods of penniless hitchhiking and summers spent in the company of Parisian whores, to his nervous collapse in Manchester in the company of Mandy Rice-Davies and the eye complaint, which led to the adoption of his now trademark tinted glasses.

Stevens' life is the story of rock and roll from a truly Welsh perspective.

His Nonconformist childhood and early days of hymns and chapel illustrate a background quintessentially Welsh. It is little wonder that the nation's modern cultural icons describe the man who achieved just four per cent in his school music exams as their hero.

The fact the real Bob Dylan described Stevens as Britain's greatest songwriter is reason enough for all Wales to take him to their heart. That he is a son of Pembrokeshire is something to be proclaimed from banners at the roadside.

In the hours after his birth, Stevens stopped breathing and was lucky to be resuscitated by his nurse-trained mother with, no doubt, a hearty slap.

His grandmother Blodwen, upon witnessing his death and return to life was heard to comment "this world is not good enough for him", and perhaps, if this book is anything to go by, the old girl was right.

Meic Stevens will be in Swales Music Centre, Haverfordwest, on Thursday October 30th, at 2pm to sign copies of Solva Blues, which is available now priced £9.95