I hesitate to use the word "tribute" in describing this project only because my father never cared for the word when
it was applied to this sort of endeavor, so I will leave it up to you to decide what to make of it all. For me it's quite
simply a collective effort of good friends remembering another good friend. I remember back to a fund raising show
that my father came to Salt Lake City to do for Utah Jobs with Justice. It was one of the few times, in fact it may have
been the only time that I actually stood on a stage and introduced him to an audience. I slowly walked out onto the
stage and without saying a word I walked over and sat down on Dad's wooden folding chair that was set up in the
middle of the stage. Still silent I glanced to my right where his old road - worn Guild guitar rested on it's stand. Then
I looked back to my left where a small scarf - draped table sat. On top of the table was an old beat up tin that held
treasures dad had collected over the years, then I gazed back at the audience, all with out..one word. After what
seemed like hours I apologized to the audience and said, ”I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but think as I looked around
at all of this stuff that if I were to play my cards right, someday this could all be mine." Little did I know that a few
short years later I would be telling this story. But the reality is, the things that I inherited from my father, the songs
and stories of people and places, many of which were handed down to him from his elders, those songs and
stories we inherit together, they belong to all of us. I remember an interview dad did with a local radio station where
the interviewer asked him what his vision of the ultimate folk festival would be. His response was, “one where
nobody showed up.” I've though about that interview a lot over the years and what I think he meant was, nobody
showed up because everybody was at home in their living rooms or backyards, gathered in circles of friends
singing their own songs.
Dad said it best when he said, “ In a modern day mass marketing economy, a revolutionary song is any song that you choose to sing yourself – welcome to the revolution."
Duncan Phillips
Dad said it best when he said, “ In a modern day mass marketing economy, a revolutionary song is any song that you choose to sing yourself – welcome to the revolution."
Duncan Phillips