| Snockgrass | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Michael Hurley |
| Border: | yes |
| Released: | 1980 |
| Recorded: | 1979 |
| Genre: | Folk |
| Length: | 50:59 |
| Label: | Rounder |
| Prev Title: | Long Journey |
| Prev Year: | 1976 |
| Next Title: | Blue Navigator |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
Snockgrass is a 1980 folk album by Michael Hurley.[1] [2] The album was released by Rounder Records, with a reissue in 1997.[3] [4]
The album places emphasis on Hurley's vocals. There is traditional folk influenced by freakbeat, blues and jazz. Lyrics on the tracks tend to be serious, satirical, and humorous. Hurley sometimes shift tones in the middle of a song, creating humor out of a serious situation or vice versa.
Hurley was backed by a band that he dubbed the Sensitivos.[5] He played mandolin on "Goin' to Florida".[6]
The Buffalo News called Snockgrass Hurley's "brightest and most accessible record."
In 1993, the Daily Press wrote that "thoughtful love songs [balance] some of Hurley's funniest deprave-ups." Reviewing the 1997 reissue, The Star-Ledger determined that "Hurley's deadpan delivery, his chunky rhythm guitar, the occasional loopy background vocals, off-center drums and groaning fiddles conjure up a vanished era of American hippiedom."[7] City Pages stated that Hurley "found mercy in weaving simple, languid, folk tunes, rooted in detailed accounts of quotidian delights—watching sunsets, drinking porter, eating pork chops, going down."[8]