Starlight on the Rails: Concert and Publication Party

Starlight on the Rails: Concert and Publication Party

Saturday, Mar 24, 2012

Location:
Ken Sanders Rare Books

Starlight on the Rails: The Folka Dots, The Trappers, and The North Valley Live at Ken Sanders Rare Books

Ken Sanders Rare Books and SLUG Magazine are pleased to announce a concert celebrating the re-release of Utah Phillips’ classic songbook Starlight on the Rails on Saturday, March 24th at 7:00 p.m. at our downtown bookstore (268 South 200 East). This event will feature three bands Utah would have been proud to know he influenced – The Folka Dots, The Trappers, and The North Valley. Each band will play original material as well as songs from the book. Copies of Starlight on the Rails ($30.00 paperback) as well as music from the bands will be available that night. This event is free and open to the public.

From the foreword to the book, by Utah’s son, Duncan:

Brother, have you seen starlight on the rails? To me it’s amazing how an eight-word line from the book Of Time and the River by Thomas Wolfe weaves its way through so much of my father’s work. There is the song itself, Starlight on the Rails, and the song’s introduction, also from Thomas Wolfe… After my father’s unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1968, his subsequent blacklisting, coupled with the inevitable closing of the Joe Hill House and the divorce from my mother several years earlier, he was prompted to leave Utah. Over the years and decades that followed, that songbook became my only tangible connection to my father. Oh, we would both write the occasional letter but not much more; it wasn’t anybody’s fault, it’s just the way the cards fell. But I had that songbook. I would thumb through it from time to time, stop at a song and do what children do best: daydream of where he might be and what great adventures he must surely be on.

The new edition of Starlight on the Rails contains considerable additional material. It has about four times as many songs, many new photographs, and new artwork. U. Utah (Bruce) Phillips ran away from home while just a teen to gain an education on the road, riding the rails and hanging out with tramps. He taught himself to play the ukulele and guitar, and started writing songs about the hobo life while supporting himself as a printer, dishwasher, and stock clerk. His experience during the Korean War led him to believe that nonviolence is the only sane way to live. In the 1960s, Utah worked as a state archivist and founded the Poor People's Party in Utah, and in 1968, he ran for the U.S. Senate on the Peace & Freedom ticket.

What golden fields are to the countryside, so the Folka Dots are to music. The woven roots of two bluesy fellas and three folksy gals bear the sweet fruit of an old-timey era. It’s a soulful sound for all ears. Bass, guitars, fiddle and tambourine sustain lyrical harmonies the way winding winds carry over pastoral hills. The Folka Dots roam freely along the rambling roads of years past.

Running down the same roads as the Band, Hank Williams, and Gram Parsons before them, the Trappers play a gritty brand of rock-n-roll that emphasizes the roll over the rock, all with a generous shot of woodsy country. But where those luminaries pointed south, the Trappers face west, like a summer zephyr (or the California Zephyr) pushing up against the setting sun. On their self-titled debut, the band draws inspiration from a wide range of sources: “Cut Loose,” a bleary saloon stomp, rests by the plaintive country of “Waterloo”; “Oh Leroy” is a full throttle blues rave up, while “Solid Ground” casts about a bit more quietly; and “Bloodshot Bill,” showcases the band at its Stonesy best. Fronted by Dan Buehner—an original member of Salt Lake City’s alt-country pioneers the Trigger Locks—the Trappers bring their goods down from the mountains.

The North Valley is comprised of members from Mountain Hymns, The Descriptive, and former band The Spins including Dane Sandberg, Spenny Relyea, Jon Butler, Kramer McCausland, and Spencer Sayer.

Don’t miss this special tribute to a true original.

For more information please call or email:

Ken Sanders Rare Books 268 South 200 East (801) 521-3819 books@dreamgarden.com www.kensandersbooks.com