Michael Hurley

Michael Hurley is an American singer/guitarist, reportedly born December 20, 1941. He also plays the fiddle. For close to 40 years Hurley has lived the life of a modern day Johnny Appleseed: moving about the country collecting great tales, drawing funny pictures, sharing his crazy-beautiful songs and building an unflinching fan base (including, among others, Cat Power and Yo La Tengo) that extends from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine and the world over.

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.

Devendra Banhart's Gnomonsong label will be releasing a new Hurley album later this year (2007).

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