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Utah Phillips passed away May 23
Utah Phillips died from complications of heart disease, survived by his wife, sons Duncan and Brendan, and daughter Morrigan. His wish was to be laid to rest in a plain, hand made wooden coffin to expedite his return to the earth, which was honored. Bruce “Utah” Duncan Phillips (May 14, 1935-May 23, 2008) was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, and poet. He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action. His parents were labor organizers and Phillips was a card-carrying member of the IWW (the wobblies). As a teenager, he ran away from home, rode the rails, and wrote songs. He met folk singer Rosalie Sorrels in the early 50s and it was Sorrels who started playing the songs that Phillips wrote and, through her, his music began to spread. He was a keeper of the stories and songs that might otherwise have passed into obscurity and was also a member of the great Traveling Nation, a community of hobos and railroad bums that populated the midwest along the rail lines. He recently gained a whole new audience through his joint album with Ani DeFranco. Some of his classic songs are Moose Turd Pie, Rock Salt & Nails, Green Rolling Hills, Daddy, What’s a Train, and Goodnight-Loving Train. Phillips lived his last 21 years in Nevada City, California where he worked on the start-up of a homeless shelter and the Peace and Justice Center. Utah has caught the westbound train! Farewell.

Mary MacIntyre comments:

Some of us may never have heard of Utah Phillips. He was however a great teller of stories and with his music told grand tales of Americana. As you get a little older, you can look back and realise how much of what life used to be, the events one takes for granted soon become history, lost to the eyes and ears of the next generation, well, actually the present high speed generation. It appears that Utah Phillips understood the power of folklore long ago, and did his part to keep some alive for us, now already passing into an older generation.

May you listen to his songs, and hear the man speak for himself.

I hope you took some time to watch these videos. You’ll see he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, he also had a lot to say about coming together.

This is a must see video. Let us remember this great orator. Also there are more videos on youtube.com

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