We lost one of the good ones yesterday. U. Utah Phillips — folk singer, poet, Wobbly, storyteller and believer in the goodness and power of the working men and women of America and the world — has passed away at the age of 73.

Utah Phillips words and songs were a history lesson and a rallying cry. He, like Pete Seeger and others, would never let us forget the struggle that has been America, and yet, even a protest song was, in Utah’s deep baritone, an invitation to join, rather than an attempt to divide.

Utah Phillips’ words will live on, and all of us who were touched by his stories have an obligation to pass them — and the ideals behind them — on to the next generation.

[First seen on Tom’s blog.]