Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but folk singer U. Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest, has died:
I heard he could be hard to work with sometimes - but once I had a chance to meet with him after one of his wonderful concerts, and give him a tour of the museum where I worked. He was gracious, and generally wonderful. I think some of his songs are classics that will outlive us all.
Who’s going to make the mooseturd pie for the funeral luncheon?
Democracy Now had an hour long interview with him.
You can hear or read it.
My local Air America DJ was playing some Utah Phillips clips the other day and called him “Utah Phillips…the late Utah Phillips.” I just assumed he’d died a long time ago.
Never figured out why he needed that extra “U.” You’d think the one in “Utah” would be sufficient. Did he feel a need to differentiate himself from X. Utah Phillips and Q. Utah Phillips? These are things that alway ran through my head when listening to him on the radio.
His real name, of course, was Bruce.
I felt the same way about him as I do about Lyle Lovett: I can’t stand to listen to him sing, but I like to hear him talk.