Michael Hurley, Snock, THE HURLEY GRAIL Handmade self-production 1965-70. 

$

300

The HURLEY GRAIL!  THE LEGEND OF HENRY SNOCK VOLUMES 1 & 2!

I have known Michael Hurley for over 45 years, and I can say with some authority that in all the time I have known him, he has refined his music and added themes, but never strayed far from his original musical ideas. The recordings in these 2 volumes were made in 1965-69 (Volume 1) and 1968-1970 (Volume 2). They are similar to what you might hear Michael singing today, although his voice on these recordings is much stronger and more youthful.

All of Michael's original musical ideas are here--- nearly 6 hours worth!

The music is all on 2 reel to reel tapes recorded by Michael himself, with every detail of every track (personnel, date & location where recorded, counter details, etc) hand written (by snock himself in his unique scrawl) on tear-out notebook paper in ballpoint pen. NOT A COPY.

The tapes are boxed in a set "The Legend of Henry Snock" Volume 1 & 2, with the spines hand lettered by Michael, and the fronts comprised of hand colored (looks like a copy that was hand colored) original snock art.

For fidelity purposes, everything was recorded at 7.5 ips, and in order to get nearly 6 hours of music onto 2 tapes, all the tracks are mono and recorded onto both of the available stereo tracks on both sides of the tapes. There is a small card included with the tapes, again hand-written by Michael, explaining how to set your tape player for best results, and to help you find a particular track.

These tapes sounded awesome on my old Voice of Music tape deck, but I really wanted them in digital format so I had them digitized professionally. I requested that they copy the tapes at the 7.5 ips (not speeded up) and for the most part I think they did. There is, of course some bleed between the tracks, especially in quiet instrumental sections. The tapes are broken into 5 segments, all .aiff format for maximum resolution, and provided as part of this offering on a DVD. This DVD is included with the tapes, and the only other copy that exists is in my own itunes library… where it will remain and not be further copied.

I do not know (nor want to know!) just how Fiddlin Slim Baker (a regular Hurley sideman in the 80s) came up with these tapes, but they were found in his personal effects, and have been in storage nearly 30 years.

Included in the tape boxes, in addition to the handwritten track listings, were 6  (original print) photographs of Michael Hurley taken in the 70s and 80s, playing in some cases with Fiddlin' Slim and some others as well. These are included in this offering, making it even more of a personal item.

There is a lot of music to enjoy here, and an essential treasure trove of hand drawn & hand written materiel for Hurley collectors.

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All of the posters/recordings I am offering are vintage and collectible originals that were curated by Wayne O. "Fiddlin' Slim"  Baker (aka: Sonny, Chance, Butch, Slim), who passed-on 30 years ago. His cherished poster collection has been stored, protected, in my attic for  30 years.

To assist buyers, I have tried to differentiate between litho (printing press) printed posters and xerox-type posters where it is possible to determine. Most of these posters are from the 1980's, so even the xerox-type posters are actual originals in that they were run directly from an original master… generally a paste-up of photos, illustration and (rub-down or hand-lettered) typography.

All of the "signed by the artist" posters are absolutely authentic.

Slim was notorious for hanging around as near to backstage as possible at ANY & ALL music venues in his immediate vicinity, and he actually became close to a number of national touring artists. He himself spent many years on the road, living in truckbed trailer in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, San Francisco, Oregon, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Indiana… and rarely missed any local gigs involving his musical "idols."  He also idolized all of the principals of the "beat generation,"  and developed personal relationships with Ginsberg, Corso, Snyder, Orlovsky and Ferlinghetti.

Slim's family home was in Vermont, and he & I played in a number of Vermont bands together, and we both did some gigs with Michael Hurley as well. Slim has numerous credits on Michael Hurley live tour releases.

There is a beautiful testimonial video to Slim on youtube in which he also sings his amazing original song "Lovin' Seed", which, although not copyrighted, has never been heard except in this recording… and not because dozens of artist don't want to steal it... but simply because no one yet has been ABLE to sing it!  To enjoy this unique song and photo essay google "fiddlin slim tribute updated."