I hope it’s okay to share this. Out of an incredible afternoon of magical, mystical tribute to our departed friend Michael Hurley, this moment stood out as a shooting star of holy light.
Grace and Lily Bunch (backed by the Croakers) perform Rue of Ruby Whores at the park memorial in Portland, OR, May 4, 2025
Well, with the folks in Portland Oregon getting ready to throw a big old memorial for Michael Hurley this weekend, we thought it might be cool to set up a more open-sourced space where folks can share their Snock-related content with other fans.
And so we have launched “Doc Snock’s Gas and Snacks,” a public group on Facebook where everybody can share with each other, without it having to go through the single portal of the Instagram stories shared here.
L.i.n.k. Is in the usual place in the biography, of have a search on FB.
Hopefully, we will be live streaming some of the events in Oregon this weekend. Let’s stay connected, even in the absence of our daddy, mmmmmkay?
I can dig it!
Crop of a 📸 by Alissa Anderson
#docsnock #michaelhurley #reetpetite #hestheleaderofthefatboys #sharingiscaring
April the First marked a full revolution around the sun since our dear Michael Hurley, beloved folksinger-sinner-saint-rambler-cartoonist-activist-ativist, bummed a final ride to the Great Gig in the Sky. Our paths first crossed in 2001, when I played with him at the old Lower East Side NYC free-form haunt, Tonic (RIP). Muses aligned, hearts entwined and we embarked on a decade of occasional fly-in shows, mutual couch flops, festivals such as the Upland Breakdown (put on by fringe music champion Joe Carducci of SST Records and old-timey human archive, David Lightborne) and ramshackle US tours exploring particular lines of longitude, out of the way secret shows and primo van camping/pelican viewing spots. Those slightly ridiculous white pelicans, lazily fishing far from Florida, floating blithely on a Wyoming river in the morning sun. Snock really dug them.
Michael's presence was just like his music: warm and lifegiving and a tiny bit dangerous like a woodstove in a Vermont shack, nurturing multitudes like a nurse log in a Pacific Northwest forest, odd and endearing like a dusty 78, and decidedly not in a hurry. Once we were stuck in a Bay-Area traffic jam (en route to his Redwoods gig with the eternal Joanna Newsom) and Snock said sagely, “well…as long as you keep driving…eventually you'll get there”. And sure enough, we did.
Eventually a fellow elder folkie joined the tour, which, while nobody's fault really, brought some unfamiliar friction. It would take a trip through the Twelve Steps before I could understand this May-September dynamic, which Michael and I eventually shrugged off like an old shed skin. I was entering a shadow period of isolation and struggle for survival as I battled a deeply broken body and worried mind, an experience perhaps not unfamiliar to Michael, who waxed and waned himself in long, meaningful and meandering arcs.
(continued in the comments below) #michaelhurley #michaelhurleymusic #docsnock
It’s been a year since Michael Hurley passed, and it still feels a little surreal to say that. His music has been such a steady, guiding presence for me, shaping not just what I listen to, but how I think about making music.
This Sunday, 5-6 pm, I’ll be hosting my annual Michael Hurley remembrance show on The Search for Skip James with DJ Lofi on Shady Pines Radio.
I’ve been pulling together a set that feels really special—some old live recordings I came across years ago (90s/early 2000s era), a couple tracks from Eric Isaacson’s beautiful memorial show last year, and plenty from my own vinyl collection.
Sending a lot of love to everyone still keeping his songs, spirit, and art alive. #MichaelHurley #SnockLives
Finally tracked down a copy of Michael Hurley’s Blue Navigator 🐺🚢
Michael Hurley’s work, both the song writing and the hand-drawn art belong in any serious collection of American folk.
Michael Hurley released Blue Navigator in ‘84 and is one of my favorite Hurley albums. This record capture Snock at his best.
Some things are worth the three-month wait on back-order and this is one of them. There’s a few more Michael Hurley records I’ve been searching high and low for until I’m satisfied but this one checks off one I’ve been looking for.
What’s your current white whale album you’re searching for?
#nowspinning #audiophile #vinyligclub #freakfolk #vinylcommunity
Spinning some Doc Snock plates tonight 7-9pm at Rohalls Corner! Not really a dj set but more of laid back listening party. If you’ve got a few I don’t have, bring em, we’ll listen to em!! It’s the eve of the eve of his would be 84th! Rohalls is (iffn you haven’t been) A cozy neighborhood watering hole that feels like a living room. They’ll be serving Tom & Jerry’s and a great selection of tasty beers! My pal Jakob will be behind ze bar! Come be merry! Long Live Micheal Hurley!
American folk artist, home recording enthusiast, and songwriter sublime, Michael Hurley / @doc_snock passed away on the 1st April this year, aged 83. I discovered his music several years earlier via 1994’s ‘Wolfways’ album which entered hard rotation in my listening instantly, with its woozy, hook-filled, poetic-Americana loveliness.
In January 2024 my love of this record, along with my reading of @jefftweedy book’, How to Write One Song’, inspired me to pick up my very dusty acoustic guitar and pick out the chords to his majestic ‘Letter to Neon’. I had not touched the guitar, or really used my voice for singing, for over 13-years.
One week later my dad died unexpectedly and threw me into a chaotic, distracted, and disassociated state of grief. In the month or so that followed, some rare solace was found in making a very rough recording of Neon on GarageBand. I improvised a series of backing harmonies, took out my underlying guitar, and was left with something beautifully unexpected. A kind on wonky Ambient choral hymn which soothed my pain a little and allowed me to dream about other ways of being creative again, other songs I could maybe write and sing.
Nearly two years on I have just released my debut music - including my weird accidental version of Neon (see the link in my bio) - something which would not have existed without the somewhat random spark of connection provided by Michael Hurley’s music and its discovery at that specific time.
I’m not advocating for the cosmic gut-punch of losing a parent and the metaphysical potential of another’s art as a creative strategy here, but I guess I wanted to share a thought about Hurley’s life and work, and the life and work of all artists really. The experience of having my life literally changed by his music, for me is proof of the magical potential of art to transcend our individual human consciousness, and connect people across space and time. A continuum, at my VERY modest level, I have been invited into by this great man/artist. Thank you Michael.
“Lie down
you’ll hear songs
songs travel so far
In blood red neon colour
And they know where you are”
Michael Hurley - Letter to Neon (1994)
to all zig zagging citizens, sweedeedees, colorful chickadees, border collies, slow burning bubbas, and lovers of @doc_snock … we’ve got a “10$ show” to honor the spirit of the late Mr. Michael Hurley. you’re all invited, so please join us with a crow and a cuckoo! this beautiful cast of die-hards will be stringing out hurley-tune after hurley-tune. some will have travelled a good distance. some may even call it a pilgrimage.
oh and for those that don’t know, Michael Hurley used to call richmond virginia home - for a fair bit of years at least, in the 90s. so I find a little deeper meaning to pay tribute to his vibrations right here @thecamelrva where curated visual art from local artists mingles with live music every night of the week.
to further bolster the spirit of independent artists, all proceeds will be passed right along to the local gem of the airwaves @wrir97.3fm
cheers and see you there as you were meant to be seen
#michaelhurley #snock #freakfolk #rva
ポートランドからおかぴさん✨
@55didi
Michael Hurleyさんの追悼コンサートの
リーフレット持って来てくれてありがとう〜❣️
@doc_snock
会えてすごくうれしかったです✨
ふとよく見たら､､､
ちゃまとマイケルハーレーさん、
誕生日が一緒だった‼️
Michael and Chama have the same birthday‼️
#Michaelhurley
美味しいお昼ごはんは
@ichigeya_kamakura
We’ve got some real special ways to celebrate and remember the great Michael Hurley throughout the weekend♥️
We’ll have some of his original artwork up on display and are gearing up for the Michael Hurley Tribute on Sunday featuring special surprise guests! Not to be missed.
This is your low ticket warning! Prices go up tonight, Thursday, at 11:59pm.
See you this weekend!!
And if you didn’t know, now you know. Listen on the least evil online platform of choice. (P.S. The answer is bandcamp, and if you didn’t know, now you know.)
#folkmusic #inspiration #michaelhurley #snock
