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"Making a living, not a killing..."

Utah Phillips talks to Democracy Now's Amy Goodman about his career in folk music. Utah was one of our greatest songwriters and storytellers and a great teacher. I met Utah a couple of times at a little folk club in Leucadia, California where I used to hang out back in the mid eighties, and attended a couple of workshops that he gave at the short lived San Diego Folk Festival. He was a genuinely good man, a fine performer and a real philosopher. At different times in his life he had been a soldier, a historian, a hobo and a politician. He knew everything there was to know about the American labor movement and all the songs that had ever been written about the struggle for social justice and workplace equality. Utah passed away two years ago and it left a big hole in the folk music community and in the lives of everyone who had met him. He lives on though, through his songs and his writings, the recordings of his radio show, and the humor and wisdom that he spread around while he was here.

In this video he tells us all how important it is to own your own work. Utah made his living performing and recording music, and he worked real hard to do that, but he also worked real hard to remain independent. In the video he tells how Johnny Cash called him up one day and asked for permission to record a whole album of his songs, and why he decided to say "no." There's a lot of food for thought in this interview for independent musicians. Record companies, and managers and world tours aren't all they're cracked up to be. Money isn't all it's cracked up to be, either. Woody Guthrie turned down the best paying gigs he was ever offered, too. Making a living is one thing. Making a killing is another...

Comment by Kim Ruehl on September 23, 2009 at 9:37pm: I had the pleasure of interviewing Utah a few months before his death. His son Brendan has a band called Fast Rattler (here's their MySpace page), which has reworked songs from Utah's 'Starlight on the Rails' songbook. Brendan was using the band as a means to not only turn his generation onto Utah's music, but also to help raise money to pay for his father's medical bills. (He was careful to point out it wasn't a tribute band - "My dad doesn't need a tribute; he needs a pension.")

It broke my heart that this man, who had chosen integrity over profit throughout his life and work, had lent his voice so tirelessly to the labor movement (which included making sure people who work hard could have health insurance and pay their bills, among other things) did not have a pension or health insurance himself. He was not well when we spoke, but he didn't rush the call. He wanted to make sure he was clear and thorough about his son, his songs, the work he had done. I was honored he'd even agreed to the interview, given his condition and the fact that I was writing this for a small regional magazine that almost nobody was going to read. But of course that's probably exactly why he did it, I realize now - because it was small and local, in earnest.

I was at the Folklife Festival when I heard of his death and had to rush outside to call Brendan and offer my condolences. It struck me as such an incredibly sad loss, despite the fact that I never met the man face to face.

It's such an important distinction - make a living and not a killing, and so sums up what Utah did. Thanks so much for sharing that! I also love his comment about the difference between Nashville country and outlaw country is that outlaw country singers having dirty hats. Good stuff.

Comment by Lost Hills on September 24, 2009 at 8:24am: Thanks for the story, Kim! And thanks for the turnon to Fast Rattler. I usually do all original songs in my shows, but every once in awhile I'll throw in a Utah song, and just about every time I do someone will come up to me after the show and start telling me about the time they met "Bruce." He had an amazing effect on people, and he made life long friends wherever he went...

Comment by Erin on September 24, 2009 at 6:01pm: Lost -- thanks for this video, hadn't seen this one before. There's a lot of "food for thought" in this video beyond its relevance to the 'industry,'