Utah Phillips
Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a folk singer, songwriter, storyteller and union man who spent his life on the side of working people. He rode the rails, sang the old Wobbly songs, and told stories that could keep a hall laughing for an hour before he got to the next song.
- Born
- 15 May 1935, Cleveland, Ohio
- Died
- 23 May 2008, Nevada City, California
- Also known as
- U. Utah Phillips
- Known for
- Songs of the railroad and the labor movement, tall tales, work with Ani DiFranco
- Union
- Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies)
Life
Phillips was born in Cleveland to parents who were both labor organizers. After his mother remarried, the family moved to Salt Lake City, where his stepfather managed the Lyric Theater, and the vaudeville acts he saw there stayed with him for life. He served three years in the US Army in the 1950s, and what he saw of post-war Korea shaped his politics.
Back home and drifting, he rode freight trains and met Ammon Hennacy of the Catholic Worker Movement in Salt Lake City. Phillips credited Hennacy with turning him toward activism. Together they set up a house of hospitality named after the labor songwriter Joe Hill, and Phillips worked there for the next eight years. In 1968 he ran for the US Senate in Utah for the Peace and Freedom Party.
He took the name "U. Utah Phillips" in the hobo tradition of an initial and a home state. After leaving Utah he played folk clubs across North America, with Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs as a regular stop, and later settled in Nevada City, California, where he helped start a homeless shelter. He died there in 2008.
Songs and stories
Phillips was as much a raconteur as a singer. His tall tale "Moose Turd Pie", about working as a gandy dancer on desert railroad track, is probably his most famous piece. His own songs have been widely recorded:
- "Green Rolling Hills", which Emmylou Harris made into a country hit.
- "The Goodnight-Loving Trail", recorded by Ian Tyson, Tom Waits and others.
- "Daddy, What's a Train?" and "Queen of the Rails", from his 1973 album Good Though!
He also kept the old Wobbly songbook alive, singing "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", "The Preacher and the Slave" and "Bread and Roses" at concerts that often doubled as organizing meetings.
Selected albums
| Year | Album | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Good Though! | Includes "Moose Turd Pie" |
| 1973 | Starlight on the Rails and Other Songs | Reissued in an expanded edition in 2011 |
| 1991 | I've Got To Know | Songs, poems and stories, recorded in one take |
| 1996 | The Long Memory | With Rosalie Sorrels |
| 1996 | The Past Didn't Go Anywhere | With Ani DiFranco |
| 1999 | Fellow Workers | With Ani DiFranco |
His work with Ani DiFranco brought him a Grammy nomination and a new, younger audience. From 1997 to 2001 he also hosted a weekly radio show, Loafer's Glory: The Hobo Jungle of the Mind, on KVMR.
Legacy
In 1998 Phillips was the first recipient of the Kate Wolf Memorial Award; he had been a mentor to Kate Wolf herself. He was made an honorary member of many folk societies in the US and Canada, and his papers are held at the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit. For more singers who kept folk music close to working life, see our guide to traditional folk and our folk radio stations.