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Michael HurleyEccentric folk singer, whose music became a benchmark for a whole generation of singer-songwriters, died at the age of 83.
The death of the singer was announced in an explanation of his family. His publicist confirmed that Hurley died in his home state of Oregon after returning home from a series of weekend appearances at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. The cause of death was not mentioned.
“With great grief, the Hurley family announces the sudden death of inimitable Michael Hurley,” says the explanation. ‘The’ Godfather of Freak Folk ”was the bearer of an eccentric genius and compassionate joke for half a century. He was alone. There is no other. There is no other. Friends, family and the music scene mourning him.”
Songs about herringbones and cookie cutters, werewolves and abandoned pigs
Michael Hurley was known to sing and write songs that were warmly and simple, often in a LO-FI presentation, about unconventional topics. To put it more, he sang and wrote songs that sounded as if they could only have written and sing Michael Hurley. Songs about fishing bones and cookie cutters, werewolves and abandoned pigs.
Over the last quarter of a century, these songs and the unique spirit that they have produced became a guiding star of artistic integrity and inspiring non -conformity. They all inspired. From indie legends such as Cat Power and Oldham to Roots-Koryphafäen such as Lucinda Williams to roots rockers like Deer Tick. And sloping birds of the next generation like Jonny Fritz, a singer who would not exist without the path that Michael Hurley paved decades ago.
Hurley was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a child, he moved to Florida and California as a child as a musical producer before setting up in Pennsylvania. The music came to him at a young age when he recorded R&B, blues and rock’n’roll plates as a child. It didn’t take long for Hurley to start writing his own songs. “I immediately started to think of things”, told Hurley 2021 the New York Times. “If you don’t know how to do it right, you do it on your Way. Sometimes a better song comes out. “
“Platzwart, machine operator, foundry worker”
As a teenager, Hurley started hitchhiking and traveling through the country. Until he finally landed in Greenwich Village. At 22, he took his debut album First songs on, which was published by Smithsonian Folkways in 1964. But after the release of the album, Hurley became father and husband. And worked for the next six years in a number of occasional jobs that he had years later Journalists In his own words described: “Platzwart. Masalist. Founder worker. Employee in a bakery. Workers in a Kartenfabrik. Schuhmodellbauer. Moccassin manufacturer. Zimmermann. Apple picker. Tipi-farmer who could handle a broom and fill up shelves and produce Kielbasa sausages at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. Seller of hot pretzels on the streets of Boston.
Hurley’s second publication – Armchair Boogie From 1971 – was his debut on a large label. And contained songs that should become milestones in his catalog, such as “Be Kind to Me” and “Sweedeedee”.
“Michael Hurley is either a genius or he is crazy,” it said in the review of the album In the Rolling Stone. “I suspect it is both.”
A few years later, Hurley played a role in an album that became his most influential and best -known work. The album was called Have moicy And was recorded by a group of folk musicians who called themselves Holy Modal Rounders.
“Bizarre apotheosis of the post-hippie heir”
Although the majority of the record was recorded by only two band members (including Peter Stampfel), Hurley and many others contributed to the album, which soon became a cult classic. In his A+review, the critic Robert Christgau raved that the record “The concept of American folk music as a bizarre apotheosis of the post-hippie heir”.
Soon afterwards, Hurley largely withdrew from the music industry. But he never stopped making music. In the eighties, he founded his own label, Bellemeade Phonics, about which he published his own records until the early 2000s, began to publish his music as a number of indie labels.
At that time, Hurley had settled in the Northwest of Pacific. Where he was crowned a kind of king of non-conformist singer-songwriters for a younger generation. “The chorus”, said Will Oldham 2021 the Times“Reads: ‘What would Michael Hurley do?'”
“To describe me as an outsider artist … yes, I think that’s true”, he said Later this year. ‘It took me a long time to join the group. ”
Michael Hurley has remained active as a recording artist and tour artist in his last years. His last new album with exclusively new material is The Time of the Foxgloves from 2021.
In the Year 2021 Hurley has asked to name your absolute favorite albums. Instead, he replied with a personal manifesto. “I like original music,” said Hurley. I like to listen to people who play themselves. Not someone else or someone who thinks they should be. I like the unvarnished truth. I like to celebrate the cheerfulness of life. The whole package. The Boogie Woogie. The Bebop and the blues as well as the folk music of all nations. “