The Utah Phillips Library

10/11/2026

9 years ago The Flanger car arrived at The Black Butte Center For Railroad Culture after a long journey from Vermont.
Today, the walls have been rebuilt,
the new roof is on,
the new windows are in,
the exterior has a fresh coat of paint,
and the interior is ready to be renovated.
Thank you endlessly to everyone who’s come along on this nearly decade-long journey. We’re almost ready to welcome Utah’s Library inside.

We still have plenty of fundraising to do!

Solidarity Forever,
The Utah Phillips Library

09/20/2026

📚 TODAY AT THE NORTH COLUMBIA SCHOOLHOUSE 📚
6PM SHOW ALL AGES
$20 SUGGESTED DONATION

17894 Tyler Foote Rd. Nevada City, CA

Tin Type Photographs will be available from around 3PM until the show begins. First come, first serve! So come early! Picnics encouraged.

SEE YOU THERE!

08/31/2026

🚂 FUNDRAISER SHOW 🚂
SEPTEMBER 20th
at North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center

⭐️ FEATURING ⭐️
awkward pocket
Brendan Phillips
𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕪 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕂𝕚𝕕
Paul Emery
The Low Coals

📸 TIN TYPE PHOTOS 📸
by Kim Smith

5:30PM DOORS
6:00PM SHOW

$20 SUGGESTED DONATION
NO ONE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS

08/27/2026

Joe’s Truck Stop: “All Used Up” | LIVE FROM THE FLANGER

Joe Truck Stop took a break from tour to swing by The (currently under construction) Flanger on a hot summer day and play Utah’s “All Used Up” for us.

Utah wrote “All Used Up” about an old man who lived in The Clem Hotel in Spokane, WA. The Clem was one of the last buildings left in the International District after it was bulldozed to make way for The World’s Fair. Utah would see the man gazing sorrowfully out his window at the vacant lots, and was told he never left his room and wouldn’t open the door to anybody.
Utah would wave to the man every day as he passed, and eventually the man waved back. The song was penned for those people, the ones who are cast aside and forgotten after the system has taken everything from them.

In Utah’s own words, “I don’t know if this song was his story, but I’m damn sure it’s not gonna’ be mine.”

08/18/2026

Utah detailing our responsibility to folk music as, ostensibly, the folks in his introduction to “Railroading On The Great Divide” at The Arena Theater in March 2004.

08/13/2026

Dwight Hawkins: “When De Corn Pone’s Hot” | LIVE FROM THE FLANGER

Dwight Hawkins stopped by The Flanger and spent the afternoon with us. Here he is performing his adaption of a Paul Laurence Dunbar poem, “When De Corn Pone’s Hot”.

Dunbar is considered one of the most influential Black poets of the Late 19th Century, commended for his preservation and representation of the dialect and lifestyles of formerly enslaved peoples in the U.S.

08/11/2026

Utah Phillips performs “Hallelujah I’m A Bum” on March 21, 1981 at Ohio University

07/25/2026

The Flanger’s new walls are up, wrapped, and sided.
The new windows are in.
The new cupola is built and installed.
Up next: paint, trim, and finishing the interior!

07/24/2026

BRENDAN UPDATE

07/23/2026

Welcome to "Live From The Flanger": a video series where we highlight the incredible musicians, artists, and scholars who visit The Utah Phillips Library and carry on Utah's piece of The Long Memory.

Up first is the great Dylan Earl, playing "Rock Me To Sleep" on Utah's old Gibson.

Enjoy!

Dylan Earl stopped by The Flanger last month to perform Utah Philli...