Michael Hurley is an international treasure, one of America's great singer-songwriters commuting to and fro along his magical path somewhere between country, folk and blues

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Blues, FOLK: Modern Folk



Details:
"Michael Hurleyâs albums creep up on you, and this oneâs no exception. Give it one lazy listen and you might walk away wondering why people make such a fuss about the guy. After all, itâs just some creaky-voiced hippy backed by an Irish old-timey band strumming and singing at a decidedly unhurried clip, right? All that is true, but by no means is it the whole story. Hurley triumphs where others fail because behind his ultra-relaxed demeanor heâs an enormously skilled entertainer. Heâs got an unerring sense for just the right point in a song to let his voice crack or thin out, the better to make you shed a tear or crack a smile. His guitar playing is functional and unflashy, like a pair of yardwork jeans, but itâs also just as tough and broken-in... The one banjo tune, âUncle Smoochface,â captures another facet of Hurleyâs charm; heâs a master at spinning yarns about guys youâd rather not meet, but might bust a gut hearing what theyâve done, so long as it wasnât with your sister, or wife, or mom. âHave I told You Latelyâ is full of regret, yet limned with confidence and hope; it shows how Hurley can tug at your heartstrings without jerking your chain, and wring complex truths from simple tunes. Thereâs a whole lot more to this old coot than first meets the eye".
Dusted Magazine (Bill Meyer)

" 'Hearing one of Michael Hurleyâs songs for the first time can seem like youâve known it all your life' a perceptive scribe once opined in No Depression, the magazine of all things Americana. Hurley is a sixty-something American country/ folk/blues maverick who has skirted around the mainstream for the past 40 years or so, a peripatetic songster and cartoonist who has kept the business out of his music and in doing so has built up a tiny but fervent following. These include Dubliner Brendan Foreman who pulled this endearingly unkempt session together aided by The Rough Deal String Band. As an antidote to all things slick âDown in Dublinâ has few equals, but Hurleyâs songs and performance, even his more obscure ramblings, have a deeper resonance in that they are rooted to the great tradition of American folk/country music".
Irish Times (Joe Breen)

Down in Dublin was recorded September, 2003 in Dublin, Ireland. Michael Hurley, Dave Reisch and local old-time stringband The Rough Deal String Band spent some days recording together at Stiúidio Na Life in Dublin after a successful tour of Scotland, England and Ireland. Percussionist and pal Thurstan Binns joined them from Hull. It was Michael Hurley's first complete studio album in yonks, his latest since the home-recorded Sweetkorn (2002, Trikont) and his first-ever recorded in Europe. It's a marvellous mix of the traditional, the off-beat and the transcendent and gives Hurley's cosmos the odd Hiberno slant. Michael not only designed the cover, as in all his previous albums, but also wrote and illustrated the special 46 panel comic insert...