Michael Hurley , a ’60s and ’70s Greenwich Village folk singer-songwriter, died on April 1, 2025. Hurley painted, drew, and played many instruments.
“Outsider folk” describes Hurley’s music.
Michael Hurley Biography: His Life and Legal Legacy
Bucks County native Hurley started his career there. Burdened with mononucleosis, Hurley waited years to sign with a record label. Hurley’s 1963 Folkways Records debut, First Songs, was recorded using the same reel-to-reel technology as Lead Belly’s 1963 Last Sessions. Jazz and blues historian Frederick Ramsey III found him. His boyhood buddy Jesse Colin Young promoted him and released two albums on Raccoon, The Youngbloods’ Warner Bros. label.
Three late 1970s Rounder albums by Hurley have been reissued on CD. Jeffrey Frederick & The Clamtones and the Unholy Modal Rounders (a side project of the Holy Modal Rounders) contributed to his 1976 album Have Moicy!, which was well-received. Music reviewer Robert Christgau ranked it the year’s greatest album.
Hurley recorded Wolfways for Koch Records in 1996 with Mickey Bones on drums. Tours with Son Volt and praise from Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt, Woods, Calexico, Julian Lynch, Cat Power, and Robin Holcomb followed.
Hamlet listens to Hurley’s “Wild GGeese while recording a video that replaces the “Murder of Gonzago” play-within-a-play “to catch the conscience” of King Claudius.
In 2001, Locust Music reissued Hurley’s debut as Blueberry Wine with new artwork.
Gnomonsong published Michael Hurley’s newest album, Ancestral Swamp, on September 18, 2007. New friends Tara Jane O’Neil and Lewi Longmire and old Hurley colleague David Reisch of the Holy Modal Rounders supported her.
San Francisco’s Secret Seven Records and Portland’s Mississippi Records released 100 8-track tapes of Hurley’s rarest album, Blue Navigator, in 2010. Hurley recorded music on 8-track for years.
Quebec publisher L’Oie de Cravan released Hurley’s first lyrics collection in 2011. The book includes Byron Coley’s preface, the author’s calligraphed English lyrics to nineteen songs, and Marie Frankland’s 2007 John Glassco medal-winning French translation.
Hurley appeared in the Nelsonville Music Festival from 2008 until 2019 and 2022.
His song “Hog of the Forsaken” closed the series premiere and Deadwood: The Movie.
The 2018 family drama Leave No Trace portrays Oregon natives Hurley and Marisa Anderson playing “O My Stars” beside a campfire.
His home was in rural northwest Oregon, despite his many appearances in Portland.
The Time of the Foxgloves is Hurley’s 2021 album. Amanda Petrusich of The New Yorker ranked it a top ten album of the year.
Michael Hurley Private life
Young Michael Hurley began playing and creating music in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, at 13. He recorded First Songs at 22. He lived in Oregon, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ohio, Florida, and California.
Hurley published at least three works. Morning Tea, Outcry, and Underground Monthly. He created Mama Molasses, Greenbriar Kornbread, Jocko and Boone, and more comics.
Hurley was known as Elwood Snock, Doc Snock, Snockman, The Snock, and Snock. Hurley designed most of his records. Themes in Hurley’s music and comics included Jocko and Boone, cartoon werewolves. Each one is based on Hurley’s childhood dog.
Daffodil, Jordan, Colorado, and Marjorie, whom Michael called “Pasta” during their marriage, were the Hurley children. He has a boy called Rollin with Kim and a daughter named Wilder Mountain Honey with Bethany.
Outsider folk legend Michael Hurley has died at age 83
— Stereogum (@stereogum.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T20:17:57.905Z
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