Underappreciated Geniuses, Vol. 5: Michael Hurley

I was listening to Michael Hurley's Sweetkorn today. Like all of Hurley's albums, it is intimate and odd, warm although vaguely off-putting in its weirdness. A Hurley record is like a visit from that strange uncle your parents didn't want you to see too often and with whom they would never leave you alone but who was charming and wonderful all the same, who did corny magic tricks and made up fun games no one else would ever think of and told rambling stories that had no end and made you laugh without your having the slightest idea why they were funny. He probably had spent some time in jail.

Hurley is the slacker John Prine. I imagine Prine would be a lot like Michael Hurley today had the former not become famous. Hurley did not become famous. He has gotten through life on an assortment of odd jobs that includes auto repair, painting, and singing, and over the course of sixty some odd years he has amassed a small but devoted following.

Hurley's music is laid back and rootsy. Some of it is so laconic that it practically doesn't make it out of the speakers. It is ancient sounding, like an Uncle Dave Macon record, and it is almost certainly the product of disorienting substances. It alludes frequently to a personal mythology that includes werewolves, hogs of the forsaken, talking pork chops, and a character named Snock who is a proxy for Hurley in the alternate universe his music details.

What makes Hurley special is his blend of whimsy and soulfulness. He's no Nick Drake; not much gets him down, and nothing seems to get him down for too long. Yet he's not just some lightweight joker, either. He's quite capable of ratcheting up the stakes and providing something quite stirring and lovely, such as:

Kiss me once, oh, kiss me twice
Give me a taste of paradise
I don't need the blues always on my shoulder
They give me a cold feeling, gettin' colder

Oh my stars how you undo me
Oh my stars, oh my stars
You undo me

or vaguely mystical, such as:

Holy is as holy is as holy
To me
And beauty is as beauty does
Time is watching the show, time is watching the show

With no apparent commercial constraints, Hurley is free to be as wide-ranging as he pleases, and he pleases plenty. Hence songs like "You're Gonna Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old" and lyrics like

Protein monster ate a sack of poison sugar
Crawlin out of the barn to the weeds to die
He's rollin' his eyes... eyes, eyes

Mama molasses broke my glasses
And the moon came up and we wiggled our asses
She's got red eyes... eyes, eyes ("Eyes Eyes", Wolfways)

It's like reading the diary of a slighty crazy but very interesting person. I love it even when I have no idea what he's getting at.

It's all set to some lovely melodies that burrow deep enough in your brain that you'll think you've known them forever the second time you hear them. His records favor organic arrangements of banjos, mandolins, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, etc. etc. so that they sound like very compelling jam sessions, which may very well be the case.

If I still haven't sold you on Hurley's music, surf on over here and stream some Snocktunes before you write him off forever. Start with "Oh My Stars" or "I Paint a Design." If you're interested in more, check out (in this order, more or less): Snockgrass, Have Moicy! (a Holy Modal Rounders album on which Hurley is featured prominently), Long Journey, and Wolfways.

PS NPR did a fairly long piece on Michael Hurley on November 17, 2007. If it's still up, the link will take you to it.

Score One For Corporate America

I recently did something incredibly stupid, as detailed in the letter below. The letter is pretty self-explanatory; all you need to know in addition is that the CD box set in question has those annoying built-in CD holders that cannot be separated from the box set and which are invariably made of a very hard plastic that breaks too easily.

To: Dr.Rhino@rhino.com
Subject: Help Me, I Am an Idiot
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:38 PM

Dear Dr. Rhino:

I am writing to seek your help, because I am an idiot.

I recently--as in yesterday --received as a gift Rhino's "Have A Nice Decade" box set. Like all your products, it is great and I love it.

Unfortunately, because I am an idiot, I have done something incredibly idiotic. One of the teeth of one of the CD holders in the box set was damaged, and as a result one of the discs kept falling out. I attempted to repair the wobbly tooth with Krazy Glue. This was idiotic move number 1, and of course It did not work. Idiotic move number 2 was failing to move the discs far, far away from the area to which I was attempting this repair. This is how I got Krazy Glue on the playing surfaces of discs 1 and 2, and this is why they no longer play.

I understand that you are under no obligation whatsoever to replace these discs. However, I am a loyal Rhino customer and a full-fledged idiot, so I figured I would write you to beg mercy. Is there any way I can replace these two discs without having to purchase the complete box set again? If you could help me with this I would be forever in your debt and would promise to do my best to avoid future Rhino-impacting acts of idiocy on my part.

Sincerely,

Tom Meltzer, idiot

The response was three weeks in coming but was, ultimately, edifying:

Dear Tom,

Please send your damaged discs to:

Rhino Customer Service
Attn. Mac Dunlop
3400 West Olive Ave. 5th Floor
Burbank, CA 91505

We'll send you replacements. Please include your mailing address and a copy of your email (or a note detailing your request). Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

Dr. Rhino

Kudos to Rhino Records. Extra credit for resisting the temptation to address me as "Tom Meltzer, idiot."