Michael Hurley, singer and eccentric songwriter who was a pioneer in the “Freak-Folk” movement and the inspiring generations of artists. It was 83.
The Hurley family said in a Rolling Stone Roll Statement. “The godfather of the strange people” was in a abundantly productive century, and it is an eccentric genius provider and emotional intelligence. It was alone there.
The family did not provide the cause of death or the list of survivors.
Hurley, born in Pennsylvania, sharpened his cracked point of view on the Blu Grass, Blues and People in the popular scene in the village of Greenwich in New York in the 1960s, after being picked up by the producer and folklore Farid Ramsey on Ramble. He released his first album, “First Songs” for 1964, on Folkways, the famous home of Woody Guthrie and Harry Smith “Anthology of American Folk Music.”
Hurley’s talents were multiple-he designed and clarified most of the art of his charming album drawn by hand, and learned a variety of tools including Banjo and Fiddle. His songs had a blatant and strange quality that could be beautiful (as in “Be Cute with me” and “Valley of Tears”) and Surrey (“What made the hamburger disappear?” Or “You are a dog; do not talk to me”). He was a childhood friend of future Youngbloods Jesse Kulin Young, who would have slowed down Hurley’s deviant vision by launching “Armchair Boogie” for 1971 and “Hi Fi Snock Uptown” for 1972 as a Warner Bros adjective ..
1976 “Have Moice!” It has become a favorite of underground worship, and the wide -width catalog will grow quickly to more than 30 LPS. Along the way, independent rock and similar singers such as Lucinda Williams and Cat Power (who are painfully interpreted Individual “Wolf” On the classic 2003 LP “You are free”) his work will slow down. Devendra Banhart released Hurley’s albums on Gnomonsong, Hurley appeared in Film 2018 “Don’t leave any trace”, Where he performed “stars”.
“Call me an external artist … Yes, I think it is suitable,” he He told the Guardian newspaper in 2021. “It took me a long time to join the gang … I did not enjoy the process of applying for the vehicles, this design is to penetrate things, all this problem that you had to go through. I preferred to play parties. Small gatherings.
Hurley lived in the rural state of Oregon in his last years, when he released his last album, “The Time of the Foxgloves”, in 2021. He continued writing and performance in vehicles including the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee just a few days before his death.
