UTAH PHILLIPS

In 2003, Daemon Records teamed up with AK Press and was lucky enough to release a record by the great American storyteller, labor organizer, folk singer, and poet, Utah Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008).

Phillips ran away from home in his teens to gain an education on the road, riding the rails and bumming along with tramps. He taught himself to play the ukulele and guitar and began writing songs about the hobo life. His experience during the Korean War convinced him that nonviolence is the only way to live sane. Utah has received both a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Folk Alliance and a Lifetime Service to Labor Award from the American Federation of Musicians.

In Utah's Words about this record: During the (first) Gulf War, I got plenty good and mad. I parked my car and wouldn't drive it because I said it wouldn't run on blood. Then; with the help of Dakota Sid Clifford, I went into a small but very fine studio her in Nevada City. I said to Bruce Wheelock, the engineer, "Set up two mikes and start a tape. I'll tell you when I'm done." For the next seventy minutes I spouted, fulminated, and sang about war, peace, pacifism, and anarchy. I used song, poems, and rants to make the point, and said, "Okay, turn off the machine." Bruce said, "Don't you want me to edit it?" I said, "No! I'm mad! Leave it the way it is!"