Birkenhead-born world authority on Bob Dylan, writer Michael Gray, is returning to his hometown next week for his first professional appearance there.

The event is a cross between a one-man-show and a talk, entitled "Bob Dylan and & The Poetry Of The Blues", at Birkenhead’s Pacific Road Arts Centre.

It will feature "loud records and rare film footage" of the American superstar.

Gray’s books The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (2006 & 2008) and Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan (2000) earned 5-star reviews aplenty, and he returns to Birkenhead as part of a long tour that goes on till early June and will include dates in the USA and Canada.

"The Birkenhead show will be special for me,” says Gray.

"I was born and brought up on the Wirral, and I got most of my formative musical education there.

"It’s where I bought my first records, saw my first live rock’n’roll performance, went to my first Saturday night dances, and first saw some rock’n’roll films."

The event starts at 7.30pm on Friday March 6.

Box Office 666 0000 or www.pacificroad.co.uk/webpages/booking.asp Tickets are £10, £8 concessions.