Editing Utah Phillips

{{Short description|American labor organizer, folk singer, and poet (1935–2008)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name                = Utah Phillips
| image               = File:Utah Phillips 1579a 700 NWilson.jpg
| caption             = Utah Phillips, 2006
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = Bruce Duncan Phillips
| alias               = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1935|05|15}}
| birth_place         = [[Cleveland]], Ohio
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2008|05|23|1935|05|15}}
| death_place         = [[Nevada City, California]]
| origin              = 
| instrument          = 
| genre               = [[Folk music]]
| occupation          = Songwriter, performer, [[raconteur]]
| years_active        = 
| label               = 
| associated_acts     = 
| website             = [http://thelongmemory.com/ thelongmemory.com]
| current_members     = 
| past_members        = 
}}
'''Bruce Duncan''' "'''Utah'''" '''Phillips''' (May 15, 1935&nbsp;– May 23, 2008)<ref name="kvmr">[http://www.kvmr.org/utah_letter.html "Utah Phillips Has Left the Stage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821124726/http://www.kvmr.org/utah_letter.html |date=August 21, 2008 }}, KVMR, Nevada City, California, May 24, 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008.</ref> was an American labor organizer, [[folk singer]], storyteller and poet. He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of [[direct action]], self-identifying as an [[Anarchism|anarchist]].<ref name="Crane">{{cite web |url= http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041025/crane|title= Voting For the First Time|access-date=27 December 2007 |quote=I'm an anarchist and I've been an anarchist many, many years.}}</ref> He often promoted the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] in his music, actions, and words.

==Early years==
Phillips was born in [[Cleveland]] to Edwin Deroger Phillips and Frances Kathleen Coates. His father, Edwin Phillips, was a labor organizer, and his parents' activism influenced much of his life's work. Phillips was a card-carrying member of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (Wobblies), which were headquartered in Chicago. His parents divorced and his mother remarried. Phillips was adopted at the age of five by his stepfather, Syd Cohen, who managed the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, one of the last vaudeville houses in the city. Cohen moved the family to [[Salt Lake City]], Utah, where he managed the Lyric Theater, another vaudeville house. Phillips attributes his early exposure to vaudeville through his stepfather as being an important influence on his later career.<ref>Phillips, Utah. [http://www.clownzen.com/clownofit/utahphillips.html clownzen.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218092632/http://www.clownzen.com/clownofit/utahphillips.html |date=December 18, 2013 }} June 2002 interview. Retrieved December 7, 2013.</ref>

Phillips attended [[East High School (Salt Lake City)|East High School]] in Salt Lake City, where he was involved in the arts and plays.<ref name="folkworks.org">[http://folkworks.org/columns/how-can-i-keep-from-talking-ross-altman/40229-polly-stewart-salt-lake-folk-revival "Folk Revival in Salt Lake City?"], folkworks.org. Retrieved 7 December 2013</ref> He served in the [[United States Army]] for three years in the 1950s. Witnessing the devastation of [[Korean War|post-war]] [[Korea]] greatly influenced his social and political thinking. After discharge from the army, Phillips rode the railroads, and wrote songs.<ref name="theunion">{{cite web |url=http://theunion.com/article/20080526/NEWS/88594631 |title=From hobo to fame |access-date=14 April 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530183331/http://www.theunion.com/article/20080526/NEWS/88594631 |archive-date=May 30, 2008 |last=Pelline |first=Jeff |author2=Butler, Pat |date=May 26, 2008 |work=[[The Union (newspaper)|The Union]] |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Career==
While [[hobo|riding the rails]] and [[tramp]]ing around the west, Phillips returned to Salt Lake City, where he met [[Ammon Hennacy]] from the [[Catholic Worker Movement]].  He gave credit to Hennacy for saving him from a life of drifting to one dedicated to using his gifts and talents toward activism and public service.<ref name="folkworks.org"/> Phillips assisted him in establishing a mission [[house of hospitality]] named after the activist [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Rattler |first=Fast |title=Utah Phillips on the Catholic Worker, Polarization, and Songwriting |url=http://www.olywip.org/site/page/article/2006/02/01.html |format=interview |access-date=1 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212051908/http://www.olywip.org/site/page/article/2006/02/01.html |archive-date=December 12, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Crane |first=Carolyn |title=Interview with Utah Phillips |url=http://zmagsite.zmag.org:80/JulAug2004/crane0804.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120080529/http://zmagsite.zmag.org:80/JulAug2004/crane0804.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 January 2008 |format=interview, Z Magazine |access-date=1 March 2008 }}</ref> Phillips worked at the [[Joe Hill House]] for the next eight years, then ran for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] as a candidate of Utah's [[Peace and Freedom Party]] in 1968. He received 2,019 votes (0.5%) in an election won by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Wallace F. Bennett]].  He also ran for president of the United States in 1976 for the Do-Nothing Party.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hawthorn |first=Tom |title=Unapologetic Wobbly folk singer found a second home in Canada |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/unapologetic-wobbly-folk-singer-found-a-second-home-in-canada/article17987785/?service=print |access-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref>

He adopted the name '''U. Utah Phillips''' in keeping with the [[hobo]] tradition of adopting a moniker that included an initial and the state of origin, and in emulation of country vocalist [[T. Texas Tyler]].<ref>Direct quotation from his biography in [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052902087.html The Washington Post], May 30, 2008.</ref>

Phillips met folk singer [[Rosalie Sorrels]] in the early 1950s, and remained a close friend of hers.  Sorrels started playing the songs that Phillips wrote, and through her his music began to spread. After leaving Utah in the late 1960s, he went to [[Saratoga Springs, New York]], where he was befriended by the folk community at the [[Caffè Lena]] coffee house.  He became a staple performer there for a decade, and would return throughout his career.
[[File:HayMarket100a.jpg|thumb|right|Phillips speaking at the ''[[Haymarket Martyrs' Monument]]'' at [[Forest Home Cemetery (Forest Park)|Waldheim Cemetery]], Forest Park (outside Chicago) in May 1986 during ceremonies commemorating the 100th anniversary of the [[Haymarket affair]].]]
Phillips was a member of the [[Industrial Workers of the World|Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies)]].  His views of unions and politics were shaped by his parents, especially his mother who was a labor organizer for the CIO.  But Phillips was more of a [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchist]] and a [[Pacifism|pacifist]], so found the modern-day Wobblies to be the perfect fit for him, an iconoclast and artist.  In recent years, perhaps no single person did more to spread the [[Industrial Workers of the World|Wobbly]] gospel than Phillips, whose countless concerts were, in effect, organizing meetings for the cause of labor, unions, anarchism, pacifism, and the Wobblies.  He was a tremendous interpreter of classic Wobbly tunes including "[[Hallelujah, I'm a Bum]]," "[[The Preacher and the Slave]]," and "[[Bread and Roses]]."

An avid [[Freighthopping|trainhopper]], Phillips recorded several albums of music related to the railroads, especially the era of steam locomotives. His 1973 album, ''Good Though!'', is an example, and 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"<ref>{{cite web|last=Phillips |first=Bruce |title=Moose Turd Pie |url=http://www.utahphillips.org/stuff/mooseturdpie.mp3 |format=mp3 |access-date=12 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613095956/http://www.utahphillips.org/stuff/mooseturdpie.mp3 |archive-date=June 13, 2007 }}</ref> wherein he tells a [[tall tale]] of his work as a [[gandy dancer]] repairing track in the Southwestern United States desert.

In 1991 Phillips recorded, in one take, an album of song, poetry and short stories entitled ''I've Got To Know'', inspired by his anger at the first [[Gulf War]]. The album includes "Enola Gay," his first composition written about the United States' atomic attack on [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]].

Phillips was a mentor to folk singer [[Kate Wolf]]. In 1998, he was the first recipient of the Kate Wolf Memorial Award from the [[World Folk Music Association]].<ref name="noble">{{Cite book|title=Number #1 : the story of the original Highwaymen|last=Noble|first=Richard E.|publisher=Outskirts Press|year=2009|isbn=9781432738099|location=Denver|pages=265|oclc=426388468}}</ref> He recorded songs and stories with [[Rosalie Sorrels]] on a CD called ''The Long Memory'' (1996), originally a college project "Worker's Doxology" for 1992 'cold-drill Magazine' Boise State University. His admirer, [[Ani DiFranco]], recorded two CDs, ''[[The Past Didn't Go Anywhere]]'' (1996) and ''[[Fellow Workers]]'' (1999), with him.<ref>{{cite news|last=Merritt |first=Stephanie |title=Life Support |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/apr/22/features.magazine47 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=April 28, 2001 }}</ref> He was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] for his work with DiFranco. His "Green Rolling Hills" was made into a country hit by [[Emmylou Harris]], and "[[Goodnight-Loving Trail (song)|The Goodnight-Loving Trail]]" became a classic as well, being recorded by [[Ian Tyson]], [[Tom Waits]], and others.

==Later years and death==
Though known primarily for his work as a concert performer and labor organizer, Phillips also worked as an archivist, dishwasher, and warehouse-man.<ref name="obituary">{{cite web |url=http://www.theunion.com/article/20080529/OBITUARIES/482688530/1046%26parentprofile%3D1058 |title=Bruce Phillips |access-date=7 June 2008 |date=May 29, 2008 |work=[[The Union (newspaper)|The Union]] |archive-date=May 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524100907/http://www.theunion.com/article/20080529/OBITUARIES/482688530/1046%26parentprofile%3D1058 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Phillips was a member of various socio-political organizations and groups throughout his life. A strong supporter of labor struggles, he was a member of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW), the [[Western Federation of Miners|International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers]] (Mine Mill), and the [[Travelling Musician's Union AFM Local 1000]]. In solidarity with the poor, he was also an honorary member of [[Dignity Village]], a homeless community. A pacifist, he was a member of [[Veterans for Peace]] and the [[Peace Center of Nevada County]].<ref name="obituary"/>

In his personal life, Phillips enjoyed varied hobbies and interests. These included [[Egyptology]]; amateur [[chemistry]]; [[linguistics]]; history ([[History of Asia|Asian]], [[History of Africa|African]], [[History of the Latter Day Saint movement|Mormon]] and [[World history (field)|world]]); [[Runes|futhark]]; [[debate]]; and poetry. He also enjoyed culinary hobbies, such as [[pickling]], cooking and gardening.<ref name="obituary"/>

He married Joanna Robinson on July 31, 1989, in Nevada City.<ref name="obituary"/>
[[Image:Utah Phillips death note.png|thumb|Acetate stencil commemorating Phillips]]
Phillips became an elder statesman for the folk music community, and a keeper of stories and songs that might otherwise have passed into obscurity. He was 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 was an important keeper of their history and culture. He also became an honorary member of numerous folk societies in the US and Canada.<ref name="obituary"/>

When Kate Wolf grew ill and was forced to cancel concerts, she asked Phillips to fill in. Suffering from an ailment which makes it more difficult to play guitar, Phillips hesitated, citing his declining guitar ability. "Nobody ever came just to hear you play," she said. Phillips told this story as a way of explaining how his style over the years became increasingly based on storytelling instead of just songs. He was a gifted storyteller and monologist, and his concerts generally had an even mix of spoken word and sung content. He attributed much of his success to his personality. "It is better to be likeable than talented," he often said, self-deprecatingly.

From 1997 to 2001, Phillips hosted his own weekly radio show, ''Loafer's Glory: The Hobo Jungle of the Mind,'' originating on [[KVMR]] and nationally syndicated. The show was suspended after 100 episodes due to lack of funding.

Phillips lived in [[Nevada City, California]], for 21 years where he worked on the start-up of the [[house of hospitality|Hospitality House]], a homeless shelter,<ref>{{cite news |title= Utah Phillips: Folksinger, songwriter and bard of the last days of the US railroad |first= Tony |last=Russell |newspaper= [[The Guardian]]|date= June 24, 2008 
|url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jun/24/obituaries.culture |access-date= December 29, 2009 | location=London}}</ref> and the Peace and Justice Center. "It's my town. Nevada City is a primary seed-bed for community organizing."<ref name="theunion"/>

In August 2007, Phillips announced that he would undergo [[catheter ablation]] to address his heart problems.<ref>{{ cite web |last=Phillips |first=U.Utah |title=The Latest From FW Utah Phillips |url=http://www.iww.org/en/node/3587 |format=announcement |access-date=24 February 2008 }}</ref> Later that autumn, Phillips announced that due to health problems he could no longer tour.<ref>{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Utah |title=Retirement Announcement |url=http://www.utahphillips.org/podcast/utah20071011.mp3 |format=mp3 |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080227205154/http://www.utahphillips.org/podcast/utah20071011.mp3 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 27, 2008}}</ref> By January 2008, he decided against a [[Heart transplantation|heart transplant]].<ref name="theunion"/>

Phillips died May 23, 2008, in [[Nevada City, California]], from complications of heart disease, eight days after his 73rd birthday,<ref name="kvmr" /> and is buried in Forest View Cemetery in Nevada City.<ref name="theunion"/>

==Personal papers==
Archival materials related to Phillips' personal and professional life are open for research at the [[Walter P. Reuther Library]] in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]].  The papers include correspondence, interviews, writings, notes, contracts, flyers, publications, articles, clippings, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and other materials.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pillen|first1=Dallas|title=Collection Spotlight: The Utah Phillips Papers|url=http://reuther.wayne.edu/node/12357|website=Walter P. Reuther Library|publisher=Wayne State University|access-date=December 22, 2014}}</ref>

==Discography==
{|
| width="350pt" valign="top" |
'''Solo albums'''
*1961 ''Nobody Knows Me'' (Prestige)
*1973 ''Good Though!'' ([[Philo Records (folk)|Philo]])
*1975 ''El Capitan'' (Philo)
*1980 ''All Used Up: A Scrapbook'' (Philo)
*1983 ''We Have Fed You All a Thousand Years'' (Philo)
*1989 ''The Old Guy'' ([[Skip Jones#Makin' Jam, Etc.|Makin' Jam, Etc.]])
*1992 ''I've Got to Know'' (Alcazar) (reissued 2003 by [[AK Press]])
*1996 ''[[The Past Didn't Go Anywhere]]'' – with [[Ani Difranco]] ([[Righteous Babe|Righteous Babe Records]])
*1999 ''[[Fellow Workers]]'' – with Ani Difranco (Righteous Babe)
*1997 ''Loafer's Glory'' – with Mark Ross ([[Red House Records]])
*1997 ''The Telling Takes Me Home'' (includes tracks from El Capitan and All Used Up) (Philo/[[Rounder Records|Rounder]])
*1999 ''The Moscow Hold'' (Red House)
*2000 ''Making Speech Free'' ([[Free Dirt Records]])
*2005 ''Starlight on the Rails: A Songbook'' (4-cd Compilation) ([[AK Press]]/[[Daemon Records|Daemon]]/Free Dirt)

| width="350pt" valign="top" |
'''Other albums'''
*1985 ''Don't Mourn – Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]]'' – Various Artists ([[Smithsonian Folkways]])
*1992 ''Rebel Voices: Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World'' – Various Artists ([[Flying Fish Records|Flying Fish]])
*1996 ''The Long Memory'' – Utah Phillips and [[Rosalie Sorrels]] (Red House)
*1997 ''Heart Songs: The Old Time Country Songs of Utah Phillips'' – Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin (Rounder)
*1997 ''Legends of Folk'' – Utah Phillips, [[Ramblin' Jack Elliot]] and [[Spider John Koerner]] (Red House)
*2001 ''The Rose Tattoo Live – Trains, Tramps And Traditions'' The Rose Tattoo (Cookie Man Music)
*2008 ''May Day at the Pabst'' – Utah Philips, Larry Penn, recorded live in Milwaukee in 2006 (Cookie Man Music)
*2008 ''Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce "Utah" Phillips'' – Rosalie Sorrels (Red House)
*2009 ''Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips'' – Various Artists (Righteous Babe)
*2011 ''Long Gone: Utah Remembers Bruce "Utah" Phillips'' – Various Artists from the Region of Utah, USA. ([[Waterbug Records]])
|}

==Bibliography==
*1973 ''Starlight on the Rails and Other Songs'' (Wooden Shoe)
*2011 ''Starlight on the Rails and Other Songs'' (2nd edition, expanded) (Dream Garden Press)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.nwilsonphoto.com/special/utah/ Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73] – Picture gallery and official obituary provided by family.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031215153506/http://www.folk.org/Awards/1997.htm Biography] from the 1997 Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Awards
*Summer 2005 [https://web.archive.org/web/20060101191411/http://www.unlikelystories.org/ricard0605.shtml Interview] in "Unlikely Stories"
*{{cite news   | last =Simon, Scott   | author-link =Scott Simon   |   title =Remembering Utah Phillips  | work =[[Weekend Edition]]  |   publisher =[[National Public Radio|NPR]]  | date =May 31, 2008  | url =https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91028141}} (Radio broadcast)
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/27/utah_phillips_1935_2008_legendary_folk The “Golden Voice of the Great Southwest”], Utah Phillips memorial page on ''[[Democracy Now!]]''
* {{YouTube|4DsWi4FrkDg|cover performance of "All Used Up" by Suzanne Langille in London, May 14, 2011}}.
* {{IMDb name|id=0680859|name=Utah Phillips}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Utah}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century anarchists]]
[[Category:20th-century Utah politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century anarchists]]
[[Category:Activists from California]]
[[Category:American anarchists]]
[[Category:American anti-war activists]]
[[Category:American Christian pacifists]]
[[Category:American Christian socialists]]
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:American political music artists]]
[[Category:American storytellers]]
[[Category:American street performers]]
[[Category:American tax resisters]]
[[Category:American Unitarian Universalists]]
[[Category:Anarcho-pacifists]]
[[Category:Catholic Workers]]
[[Category:Christian anarchists]]
[[Category:Folk music of the American Southwest]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World culture]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World members]]
[[Category:Musicians from Cleveland]]
[[Category:Musicians from Salt Lake City]]
[[Category:Peace and Freedom Party politicians]]
[[Category:People from Nevada City, California]]
[[Category:Politicians from Cleveland]]
[[Category:Red House Records artists]]
[[Category:Righteous Babe Records artists]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from California]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Ohio]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Utah]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]