OREGON-BASED FOLK LEGEND MICHAEL HURLEY RELEASES THE TIME OF THE FOXGLOVES
Artwork by Michael Hurley
Legendary folk artist Michael Hurley has released The Time Of The Foxgloves, his first studio album in 12 years.
Recorded in Astoria, Oregon during the brief time of year when the foxgloves bloom, the album features 11 songs Hurley has been workshopping over the past few years, including singles 'Boulevard' and 'Little Blue River'.
Friends and collaborators contributed both in-person and from afar, uplifting the songs with violin, organ, upright bass, banjo, and percussion. But at the centre, of course, is the enigmatic Snock, whose songs have grown only more unique and recognisable 57 years on from the release of his debut album First Songs (1964).
Glorious opener 'Are You Here For The Festival' – punctuated by a pair of violins – came to the 79-year-old while working in his garden during lockdown. 'Little Blue River' floats by on a cloud. The haunting 'Jacob’s Ladder' sounds beamed-in from another era, or dimension. Ultimately, Foxgloves is as comforting and wonderful as any Hurley record that has come before it.
The New York Times describes the release as, "A careworn clutch of country odes to booze or wildflowers and trickster warnings about lust or death, it is a fitting capstone for an artist who rarely cared if he sang only for himself."
Meanwhile, Stereogum reflect that, "Snock and friends ease their way through each song like they’ve got all the time in the world and nowhere better to be. It’s wonderful."
Now just days away from his 80th birthday, Hurley grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He could see the glow of New York City from his family home 70 miles away, and would go on to become a fixture in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 60s and 70s.
An illness sent him back to Pennsylvania from the Big Apple, where he was fortuitously discovered – while hitchhiking with a guitar – by musicologist Frederick Ramsey Jr, who recorded the rambler for Folkways. Many albums, on many different labels, have followed.
Hurley's songs have also been revered and covered by the likes of Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, and Cass McCombs, and some of these homages were compiled on Snockument, a tribute album released on Dublin label Blue Navigator earlier in 2021. Snockument is currently only available on vinyl*, although a digital release is planned for 2022.
The Time Of The Foxgloves tracklisting:
Are You Here For The Festival
Alabama
Se Fue en la Noche
Blondes and Redheads
Love Is The Closest Thing
Boulevard
Knocko The Monk
Jacob’s Ladder
Little Blue River
Beer, Ale and Wine
Lush Green Trees
*As a pre-order via Flying Out from next week.
Please direct press and programming enquiries to:
Sarah Illingworth
sarah@goodluckmansion.com
+642041387342