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One of my musical heroes, Utah Phillips passed away last week. Utah was one of a kind. He was a folksinger, songwriter, storyteller, humorist and folk music historian. I was lucky enough to meet him at a folk club I used to hang out at, and I took a protest songs workshop and a labor songs workshop fro him at the first San Diego folk festival.

Utah was a lifetime member of the Industrial Workers of the World, and in his life he was a hobo, a union organizer, a Korean war veteran, an archivist, a historian and an activist. He was the greatest interpreter of the songs of Joe Hill, and he started a homeless shelter in Nevada City, where he lived for the last twenty years of his life.

Utah had unique gifts and he will missed greatly and never replaced. His songs were recorded by Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie and many others, and he won a grammy for the album he made with Ani DiFranco. His stories were wickedly funny and deadly serious at the same time.

"Say brother, have you ever heard the roar of the fast express? Have you ever seen starlight on the rails?"

I talked about Utah a little bit and played one of his songs at my show at Mama Hillybeans on Saturday. The video is me playing his song, Starlight On The Rails.

Find out more about Utah, his life and his work here:

www.utahphillips.org/