Music pioneer known as ‘Godfather of freak folk’ dies at 83

An influential folk singer/songwriter who was an integral member of the genre during the 1960s and 1970s has died. He was 83.

Michael Hurley died at his home in Astoria, Oregon after returning from a series of weekend performances at the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Rolling Stone reported.

Hurley’s record label confirmed the musician’s death in an Instagram post on Thursday.

“It is with a resounding sadness that the Hurley family announces the recent sudden passing of the inimitable Michael Hurley,” the post reads. “The ‘Godfather of freak folk’ was for a prolific half-century the purveyor of an eccentric genius and compassionate wit. He alone was Snock. There is no other. Friends, family, and the music community deeply mourn his loss.”

The post indicated that Hurley had just finished a new album and that it was mastered the week before he died.

“He was very proud of it (as he should be... it’s outstanding),” the post reads. “Hopeful it will see the light of day soon.”

Hurley’s cause of death was not provided.

Hurley was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on on Dec. 20, 1941, the singer’s AllMusic biography states. He started singing and writing songs at a young age.

“I started making up stuff right away,” Hurley told the New York Times in 2021. “If you don’t know the proper way, you do it your way. Sometimes, that gives you a better song.”

Hurley got his first guitar by 16 and spent most of his teenage years traveling across the country. He eventually found himself in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Hurley’s debut album “First Songs” was released in 1964 when the singer was 22 years old.

Over the next quarter-century, Hurley “wrote and recorded original songs that parse through bluegrass, freak-folk, and blues with an ear for eccentric ideas and stripped-back moments,” Stereogum wrote.

His work would go on to inspire “everyone from indie legends like Cat Power and Will Oldham to roots luminaries like Lucinda Williams to roots rockers Deer Tick to next-generation oddballs like Jonny Fritz,” Rolling Stone wrote.

Hurley released more than 30 albums over the course of his career, with his most recent being 2021’s “The Time of the Foxgloves.”

Numerous musicians posted tributes to the late singer on social media including the Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser, Ryley Walker and More Eaze.

“So long Val Kilmer and Michael Hurley,” Langhorne Slim wrote in an Instagram story. “Two giants of their craft. Both changed the way I saw things after experiencing their work. Both expanded my perception of art. Kings of cool. Rest in peace and thank you.”