I’m a fan of music. I’m a fan of conversation. So I often love conversing about music. (Musicing about conversation is fun, too.) And there’s nothing better than getting into it with, well, musicians. Everyone is different: some people love to dig in and talk about their craft, the places songs come from, their personal history, their influences, the music business—all of it. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to do what my friend and editor Mike McKinley calls “going deep.” In short, you start on one path, like great improvisation, and as you’re moving along, you find unexpected side-trails or doors open unexpectedly. One of my favorite interviews was with Kaki King, who started out pretty hostile to my line of questioning, but by the end of our long, rambling conversation, she insisted that we run every word of the interview because it was the most revealing she had ever been.

I’m a music geek, so this kind of thing turns me on. I always wonder where the work comes from, what the process of making it is like, and I enjoy getting musicians to open up and fill us all in on the unknowns—or unknowables. Not everyone has access to these folks, so I consider it my job to unravel the good stuff to get it out to folks who can’t sit down with the people who make the records they love.

Which brings me to the point. I was lucky enough to interview Michael Hurley on Saturday. Hurley is an underground folk legend, one of those guys that is essentially unknown, but has a dedicated and devoted following among those in the know. He also doesn’t do phoners, so the only reason I got the interview is because I was in Portland. (He lives north of here, in Astoria, OR.)

Perhaps best known for a collaboration with the Holy Modal Rounders, called Have Moicy, Hurley has recorded for Folkways, as well as a bunch of tiny labels that are no longer in existence. He now works with Gnomonsong, a label owned by Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic, who have been influenced by Hurley and want to make sure his new records get out to people who also dig their music.

Hurley is one of those folk musicians who has truly lived the life he writes about. He’s been a wanderer, a thief, a hobo, a farmer, and a troubadour. He has lived in Vermont, Oregon, New York, and points in between. He is also a painter and draws comics. He often paints a cast of colorful cartoonish characters he has created, focusing mostly on two wolves, Jocko and Boone, as well as birds, crocodiles, and a lot of leggy ladies. Jocko and Boone are often depicted in all kinds of situations on his album covers, from traveling to visting bars. Hurley often refers to himself as Snocko, Dr. Snock, and to his music as Snockograss. As you can tell, he has created an entire world around himself, one that, like his music, is part of the larger American folk tradition.

We met at Papa G’s Organic Deli on Division Street in Portland. There was a really nice twist, too. Nick Jaina, whose A Narrow Way was a record Anna and I spun a lot during the spring, was there as well to interview Michael for Portland’s alt weekly Willamette Week.

The three of us had a great time as Michael spun tales of friends who lived in chicken coops in frigid Vermont winters, why he doesn’t launch records in Ireland, recording his classic “Little Green Fellow” in one take in 1965, and how much he likes Cat Power’s cover of his “Werewolf Song.” Conversation certainly rambled, as Michael recalled rooms has has played in, people he has jammed with, how the master tape to his album Blue Navigator was burned in a fire, and how the band Ida invited him to NYC to record with them. The result is his new album, Ida Con Snock.

I’ll put up a link to the State of Mind site once the interview goes up. Thanks to Nick for asking Michael about the craft of songwriting. I totally got sucked into the stories and asides and anecdotes about places he had lived and people he had played with. Snocko is a legend for storytelling, and today I got to see why.

As for the Happy Turkey sandwich, I’ll just say this: gluten dries out too easily. No amount of veganaise can fix this.