I have to take issue with nashville. I might be a little biased, Utah and I have been friends and co-workers for over 30 years. One does not survive and make a living in this trade without a healthy ego. "He that tooteth not his own horn the same shall not get tooted." There's a lot of things that you can say about Bruce Phillips, but calling him a hypocrite is going a bit too far. I know of few in this world whose actions and words match up %100.
Utah himself would tell you that the only one he knows of who succeeded in that way was his old teacher Ammon Hennacy. Utah puts his money and his body where his mouth is. One of the reasons that he's in bad health today is commitment to the things he believes.   The extent that he would come off the road suffering from exhaustion would kill a lesser being. Not just from performing and traveling to those gigs(which we know is stressful enough), but all the extra stuff; stopping off to do free shows for striking workers, peace activists, helping organize folks wherever he happened to be.
To do all this without recompense, well I know of few in this trade who have extended themselves in this way.
When Kate Wolfe was diagnosed with her final illness, she ORDERED Utah to take her gigs and fill her commitments. What does this say about her opinion of him? He had almost retired at that point because his hands weren't working well enough to play guitar(I went out with him the 1st 6 months as his "hands" until he figured out to play guitar without his right thumb).
But the commitment to the cause(whether you approve of his stance or not)and the love of the music and the trade are there. If you could take a minute to sit down with Utah and talk, I would hope that you would change your mind.

Mark Ross