| "Michael Hurley, the legendary veteran of the rock/folk otherworld, released Watertower in 1988 on Fundamental (also then home to the Colorblind James Experience and Eugene Chadbourne, who was instrumental in bringing Hurley into the fold). Watertower introduced yet another of Hurley's stirring laments, "Lush Green Trees", in which he requests, "Sorrow, sorrow ignore me." He doesn't plead; he just asks quietly. His resignation is tempered by the solace he derives from verdancy. (..)
No matter the circumstance, Michael Hurley is a quintessential practitioner of the less-is-more dictum. As a writer of riveting and timeless songs, his phrases are short and potent, in service to verses at once elegantly concise and mysteriously layered (...)
There's an ease in his songs that's more readily apparent than in his social interactions. The few words he wishes to use in song, as in life, are supported by simple chords. Hurley, who also answers to the name
Snock, plays guitar, piano, fiddle and banjo. He sings the songs he writes with a voice of confident individuality -- quirks and all -- bundled up in a folksy sonority. He eschews flash in his singing, but more importantly, it is a sound rich with personality. Hurley's a natural.
His songs are about pork chops and neon signs, werewolves and watertowers. He turns small undertakings into magical experiences. If a person, place or thing falls within the scope of his creating, it is all given equal attention, be it painting a sign,watching the moon, or remembering lessons from ma and pa. He'd like life to go smoothly, but if it doesn't, he'll roll along anyway. The songs move at a friendly, but unhurried pace. "
(NO DEPRESSION, December 1999)
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Plattentipp 
