Michael Hurley (born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on December 20, 1941, † April 1, 2025) was an American folk singer and guitarist who was essential to the New York Greenwich Village folk music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to playing a wide variety of instruments (including the fiddle), Hurley is also a cartoonist and a painter. Hurley's music has been described as "outsider folk". Hurley's debut album, First Songs, was recorded
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Michael Hurley (born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on December 20, 1941, † April 1, 2025) was an American folk singer and guitarist who was essential to the New York Greenwich Village folk music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to playing a wide variety of instruments (including the fiddle), Hurley is also a cartoonist and a painter. Hurley's music has been described as "outsider folk". Hurley's debut album, First Songs, was recorded for Folkways Records in 1965 on the same reel-to-reel machine that taped Leadbelly's Last Sessions. He was "discovered" by blues and jazz historian Frederick Ramsey III, and subsequently championed by boyhood friend Jesse Colin Young, who released his 2nd & 3rd albums on The Youngbloods' Warner Bros. imprint, Raccoon. In the late 70's, Hurley made three albums for Rounder, all of which have since been reissued on CD. His 1976 LP Have Moicy, a collaboration with the Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick & The Clamtones, was named "the greatest folk album of the rock era" by the Village Voice's Robert Christgau. In 1996, Koch Records released Wolfways with Hurley backed by Mickey Bones - Drums, Gus Ziesing - percussion, Jill Gross - Harmony Vocals, Jim Harvey - Trombone, Dan Archer and Bob Jordan - Guitars and Mike Boise - Bass. Tours with Son Volt and high praise from younger performers like Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt, Calexico, Cat Power and Robin Holcomb followed. Greg Weeks of Espers noted in an eBay auction in July 2006 that the band has begun work on a collaborative album with Hurley. Gnomonsong released the Michael Hurley album titled "Ancestral Swamp" on September 18, 2007. Backing was provided by longtime Hurley associate David Reisch of the Holy Modal Rounders and new friends Tara Jane O'Neil and Lewi Longmire. In 2021 Hurley released "The Time of the Foxgloves".
