BIOGRAPHY
Michael Hurley (1941–2025) was an American folk singer-songwriter from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s with his 1964 debut First Songs. Over six decades and dozens of albums, recorded largely at home, he blended bluegrass, blues, and surreal storytelling under the nickname 'Snock,' living what AllMusic calls the classic itinerant folk lifestyle alongside cohorts like the Holy Modal Rounders. Beyond music, Hurley was a self-taught painter, comic artist, and independent publisher who illustrated his own record covers. He died in April 2025 at 83 in Astoria, Oregon, having continued performing until his final days, mourned by Portland's music community as one of its brightest and most singular lights.