‘Like visiting the pyramids basically’: Will Oldham on the outsized impact of the late Michael Hurley

Will Oldham said one of the most important photographic images of all time, to him, is a picture of the late country legend Merle Haggard standing beside Michael Hurley, the godfather of weirdo folk, who died in April.

“Both artists continued to explore humanity through music, through the circle of appreciation-inspiration-execution and back again. And they were passing instrumentalists and superior singers, in their own unique ways,” said Oldham, whose own wild and wooly catalogue draws inspiration from both musicians.

Also in the photo is Tim Peacock, the founder of the Nelsonville Music Festival, an annual event with which Hurley long ago became synonymous, his presence on the bill both routine and magical – a quality shared by his songs, which traded in the everyday yet maintained a sense of mystery, Hurley consistently blurring and dancing over and around the line between wondrous and ordinary. 

While Oldham never caught one of Hurley’s legendary Nelsonville sets, the two conversed late into the night after both played the grounds last year, and he said he was deeply aware of the connection that existed between performer and festival. Owing to this awareness, along with Hurley’s influence on his own music and the decade-plus friendship shared by the two, officials at Nelsonville tasked Oldham with serving as “master of ceremonies” for a tribute to the outsider folk icon scheduled to take place on the final day of this year’s event, which runs Friday-Sunday, June 20-22, and also includes performances from the likes of MJ Lenderman, Waxahatchee, and Oldham, who will appear Saturday under his Bonnie Prince Billy moniker.

In the days leading up to the fest, however, Oldham still didn’t have a firm grasp on precisely what this role might entail, and when I expressed curiosity about his potential responsibilities, he responded with the same wonderment.

“I’m curious what that entails as well!” Oldham said. “I think I am going to sing a couple few numbers that Hurley either wrote or had a hand in transmogrifying into song form. … Peacock has handed me the keys to the building, and I intend to distill all of my strongest foursquare coach and janitorial skills just to wrangle the world of hyenas who are lending their considerable talents to the celebration.”

One thing Oldham’s ringleader role has allowed, though, is an extended dive into Hurley’s sprawling catalogue that has sent him both decades into the past, utilizing playlists “organically and artificially assembled,” and into the future, with Oldham spinning a yet-to-be-released album that Mike Quinn, founder of No Quarter Records, said Hurley finished earlier this year, the final mastering taking place the week before his death. “Hopeful it will see the light of day soon,” Quinn told The Guardian in April.

It’s not surprising then to hear Oldham describe Hurley’s music as existing somewhat out-of-time for him in a way that made it difficult for him to recall specifically how it first entered into his worldview. 

“Hurley’s music seems to have been there always,” said Oldham, who then drilled down on the impact his songs and approach had and continue to have. “There are extremely few writing-and-performing artists who are comfortable dispensing with almost all bullshit. Michael made people happy with his presence and with his work, with all of his processes and approaches. He seemed … to care about the songs, including who made them and how, and the audiences. Alternately turning inwards and outwards, like a mystical revolving door. He didn’t make a big deal out of anything, but his diligence betrayed a view that absolutely everything was, in fact, the big deal.”

These preparatory weeks have also given Oldham an opportunity to reconsider Hurley’s outsized legacy and continued impact. Much like the loss of Steve Albini, who died in May 2024, and David Lynch, who died in January, Oldham said Hurley’s passing left him and other likeminded folks – those people who consider art and music and life and the inseparableness of these things – reviewing “the hard and welcome lesson … of what matters.”

“These artists stayed outside even when they were inside, because in the end we are all living on the outside of society, all of us who listen and read and look each other in the eye,” continued Oldham. “If you even stood next to Hurley you felt like you’d done something, like visiting the pyramids basically.”