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. 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" wherein he tells a tall tale of his work as a gandy dancer repairing track in the Southwestern United States desert. He was a tremendous interpreter of classic Wobbly tunes including "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," "The Preacher and the Slave," and "Bread and Roses."Īn avid trainhopper, Phillips recorded several albums of music related to the railroads, especially the era of steam locomotives. In recent years, perhaps no single person did more to spread the Wobbly gospel than Phillips, whose countless concerts were, in effect, organizing meetings for the cause of labor, unions, anarchism, pacifism, and the Wobblies. But Phillips was more of a Christian anarchist and a pacifist, so found the modern-day Wobblies to be the perfect fit for him, an iconoclast and artist. His views of unions and politics were shaped by his parents, especially his Mom who was a labor organizer for the CIO. Phillips was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies).
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He became a staple performer there for a decade, and would return throughout his career. After leaving Utah in the late 1960s, he went to Saratoga Springs, New York, where he was befriended by the folk community at the Caffé Lena coffee house. Sorrels started playing the songs that Phillips wrote, and through her his music began to spread. Phillips met folk singer Rosalie Sorrels in the early 1950s, and remained a close friend of hers. 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. He also ran for president of the United States in 1976 for the Do-Nothing Party. He received 2,019 votes (0.5%) in an election won by Republican Wallace F. Senate as a candidate of Utah's Peace and Freedom Party in 1968. Phillips worked at the Joe Hill House for the next eight years, then ran for the U.S. Phillips assisted him in establishing a mission house of hospitality named after the activist Joe Hill.
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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. While riding the rails and tramping around the west, Phillips returned to Salt Lake City, where he met Ammon Hennacy from the Catholic Worker Movement.