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U. Utah Phillips
Saturday February 10th Bruce Phillips, a.k.a. U. Utah Phillips, “The Golden Voice Of The Great Southwest,” singer, songwriter, storyteller, poet and Grand Duke of the Britt, Iowa, Hobo Convention, is one of the most durable fixtures in the folk community. With a mix of stories and songs infused with his own anarchist/humanist political road map for living, he follows a road that Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger helped pave years ago. He describes the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action. He often promotes the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words.He met folk singer Rosalie Sorrells in the early 1950’s, and has remained a close friend of hers ever since. It was Sorrells who started playing the songs that Phillips wrote, and through her, his music began to spread. An avid rail-fan, Phillips has recorded several albums of music related to the railroads, especially the era of steam locomotives. His first recorded album, Good Though! is an example. It contains such songs as “Daddy, What’s a Train?” and “Queen of the Rails” as well as what may be his most famous composition, “Moose Turd Pie” wherein he tells a tall tale of his work as a gandy-dancer repairing track in the American southwest desert.Phillips was a mentor to Kate Wolf. He has recorded songs and stories with Rosalie Sorrels on a CD called The Long Memory (1996), originally a college project from Montana. Ani DiFranco has recorded two CDs, The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere (1996) and Fellow Workers (1999), with him. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work with Ani DiFranco. His “Green Rolling Hills” was made into a country hit by Emmylou Harris, and “The Goodnight-Loving Trail” has become a classic as well, being recorded by Ian Tyson, Tom Waits, and others. Phillips has become an elder statesman for the folk music community, and a keeper of stories and songs that might otherwise have passed into obscurity. He is also a member of the great Traveling Nation, the community of hobos and railroad bums that populates the Midwest United States along the rail lines, and is an important keeper of their history and culture. |
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