Snockgrass

Michael Hurley is all about perspective. One moment he searches for life's deepest meanings; the next he sings the praises of dinner. He leaves it to the listener to decide which is more important. Hurley couches his odd lyrical mix of the metaphysical and the mundane in the simplest of song forms--gentle melodies abetted by the soft strains of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and steel guitar. The music borrows from blues, country, swing, and ragtime, and Hurley presents them delicately but passionately and with haphazard perfection on this 1980 recording. --Marc Greilsamer