I was hired by Flying Out in October 2021, to launch and run MerchMe – a music merch fulfilment and production service for Aotearoa-based artists. We currently work with over 30 local clients, including LOOP, The Beths, Marlon Williams, and Te Kaahu.
Flying Out are old hands at sending records within Aotearoa and internationally. Find out more about MerchMe here.
It’s been a treat to be involved in finally bringing this collection of covers of songs by Michael Hurley a.k.a Snock into the world.
Dubliner Brendan Foreman first attempted the release over a decade ago, then the project was shelved for reasons beyond his control. On colluding with Hurley, we rebooted the notion, refreshed the tracklist, and here it is: a collection of some of the folk legend’s finest tunes, recorded by people they mean something to.
The release features recordings by Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Calexico, and more.
Snockument: Songs By Michael Hurley is available on limited edition Vinyl LP. An alternate version is available on CD and online. For more or to purchase, visit bluenavigator.com.
Official press release below:
I’m excited to work alongside Josie Campbell at Great Things, a boutique publicity business based in Auckland, New Zealand, primarily delivering on events and music releases.
Josie launched Great Things in July 2015, and quickly developed an enviable client list, running publicity for Laneway Festival New Zealand for three years — including through its big move to Albert Park.
I’m currently working on the biography of celebrated US folk musician and illustrator Michael Hurley. The 77 year-old’s tunes were first captured on acetate in 1964 by Frederic Ramsey Jr, on the same reel-to-reel he’d used to tape Lead Belly’s Last Sessions. Little did either of them realise that Michael’s First Songs would seed a remarkable oeuvre of records, which only continues to grow.
Pleased to *announce* I played a small part in lining up Manchester duo Jeuce to open for Escape-ism (Ian Svenonius of Chain and the Gang fame) at his London show.
September 13, come on down.
I’m coordinating US folk legend Michael Hurley’s 2018 UK and Ireland tour. Tour announcement below — please email sarah@sarahillingworth.com with any media enquiries.
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American alt-folk icon to tour the UK & Ireland in June
Michael Hurley (a.k.a. Doc Snock) is a quiet legend, a wry conspirator in the stand-up of life. “The world is his front porch” and, come June, the American alt-folk icon’s vista will be a collection of very special venues in Scotland, England and Ireland.
The 76 year-old Hurley has been making music for nigh on 50 years. Having broken ground as part of the Greenwich Village folk movement of the ‘60s, he continues to perform his uniquely crafted — and vast — catalogue of tunes, performing odes to aliens, tea and women for spellbound audiences at home in the US and abroad.
Sarah Illingworth 
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