 Before starting his recording career Hurley contracted mononucleosis and needed to wait several years until he could sign to a record label.Hurley's debut album, "First Songs", was recorded for Folkways Records in 1963 on the same reel-to-reel machine that taped "Lead Belly's Last Sessions".He was discovered by blues and jazz historian Frederick Ramsey III, and subsequently championed by boyhood friend Jesse Colin Young, who released his 2nd and 3rd albums on The Youngbloods' Warner Bros. imprint, Raccoon.