Michael Hurley

Michael Hurley (born c. December 20, 1941) is an American folk singer who was essential to the Greenwich folk music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He is able to play a wide variety of instruments. Michael Hurley is also a cartoonist and a painter. Michael Hurley's music is often described as "outsider folk."

Before starting his recording career Hurley contracted mononucleosis and needed to wait several years until he could sign to a record label. 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 1970s, Hurley made three albums for Rounder, all of which have since been reissued on CD. His 1976 LP Have Moicy!, a collaboration with the Holy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick & The Clamtones, was named "the greatest folk album of the rock era" by The Village Voice's Robert Christgau. (Read more at Wikipedia)

Links to Peel

Michael Hurley was one of the more individualistic, or as Peel put it (see below) "idiosyncratic" artists to emerge from the US folk scene.

Michael Hurley - I Still Could Not Forget You Then

He came to Peel's attention in the early 1970s through his LPs for Raccoon, at a time when Warner Brothers and its associated labels were signing many artists with underground credibility but little obvious commercial potential, among them Peel favourites like John Fahey and Captain Beefheart. He became a lasting favourite of Peel and Andy Kershaw, his records being played fairly frequently by both DJs over the years, and eventually he appeared in session on the programme in 1999..

Festive Fifty Entries

• None

Sessions

One session. No known commercial release.

1. Recorded in Dublin 1999-08-22. First broadcast 11 November 1999.

• O My Stars / Driving Wheel / Nat'l Weed Growers Assoc / Your Old Gearbox / I Think I'll Move

Other Shows Played

1970s

• 18 September 1971: unknown
• 22 December 1971: Jocko's Lament (LP - Armchair Boogie) Warner Bros.
• 04 April 1972: You Get Down By The Pool Hall Clickety Clack (LP – First Songs) Folkways ‎
• 25 April 1972: I Like My Wine (LP – First Songs) Folkways ‎
• 06 June 1972 Just A Bum (LP – First Songs) Folkways
• 15 September 1972: Blue Driver (LP - Hi Fi Snock Uptown) Warner Brothers
• 09 December 1975 (& Pals): Be Kind To Me (LP: Armchair Boogie)
• XX December 1976 (with The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones): Jackknife / The Red Newt (LP - Have Moicy!) Rounder
• 10 January 1977: When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano (LP - Armchair Boogie) Warner Bros.
• 02 May 1977: The Portland Water (album - Long Journey) Rounder 3011
• 25 September 1979: When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano (LP – Armchair Boogie) Warner Bros

1980s

• 17 December 1986 (with The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones): Midnight In Paris (LP - Have Moicy!) Rounder
• 27 December 1986 (BFBS) (with The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones): Midnight In Paris (LP-Have Moicy!) Rounder
• 05 January 1987 (with The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones): Weep Weep Weep (LP - Have Moicy!) Rounder
• 08 January 1987 (Andy Kershaw) (with The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones): Sweet Lucy (LP - Have Moicy!) Rounder
• 15 March 1988: I Paint A Design (LP - Watertower) Fundamental
• 06 April 1988: I Still Cannot Forget You Then (LP - Watertower) Fundamental

1990s

• 26 June 1993: Coloured Birds (7" Wildegeeses / Coloured Birds) Singles Only Label ‎– SOL-246-7
• 10 July 1993: Wildegeeses (7 inch) Singles Only Label
• 13 January 1996: I Paint A Design (album - Watertower) Fundamental
• 20 January 1996 (BFBS): 'I Paint A Design (LP-Watertower) (Fundamental) (JP: 'He's being making really nice idiosyncratic records for about 40, 35 years now. I know idiosyncratic is often shorthand for "terrible," but in his case it certainly isn't.')
• 09 February 1996: Moon Song (album - Watertower) Fundamental
• 23 February 1996: Uncle Bob’s Corner (LP – Watertower) Fundamenta
• 02 March 1996 (BFBS): Uncle Bob's Corner (LP-Watertower) (Fundamental)
• 05 April 1996: I Still Could Not Forget You Then (album - Watertower) Fundamental HYMN 8
• 13 April 1996 (BFBS): I Still Could Not Forget You Then (LP-Watertower) Fundamental
• 02 November 1996: You're A Dog And Don't Talk To Me (LP-Parsnip Snips) Veracity
• 23 July 1998: Victoria (CD - Bellemeade Sessions) Blue Navigator
• 29 July 1999: Me & Red (CD-Weatherhole) (Field Recording Co.
• 04 August 1999: The Beggars Terms (CD– Weatherhole) Field Recordings
• 05 August 1999 (Radio Eins): Me And Red (CD – Weatherhole) Field Recording Co.
• 10 November 1999 (& Pals): Troubled Waters (LP-Armchair Boogie) Raccoon (John is already looking forward to the following night's session with Michael Hurley, whose records he has already been playing for many years, and a sample from a 1971 LP is aired. It is lacking the sleeve, which JP explains by stating that Hipgnosis (the art company that designed the cover of The Dark Side of The Moon) borrowed many of his LP covers to illustrate a book and never returned them. John puts out a plea for anybody with one they can let him have: "I'll look after it for you.")
• 14 November 1999 (BFBS) (& Pals): 'Troubled Waters (LP-Armchair Boogie)' (Warner Bros./Raccoon)

2000s

• 20 July 2000: I Still Could Not Forget You Then (LP – Watertower) Fundamental
• July 2000 (FSK): I Still Could Not Forget You Then (CD - Watertower) Fundamental
• 27 June 2002 (Radio Eins): Mona Lisa (album - Sweetkorn)
• 19 August 2003: Lily Pads Upon The Pond (LP - Hi-Fi Snock Uptown) Raccoon

Other

• And Err That's A Bit Of The Label Too: I Still Could Not Forget You Then

External Links

• Wikipedia
• [1] Official site
• [2] Other