“The railroad is a long steel thread that stitches together much of the American experience.” So said Utah Phillips, who was Grand Master of a near-mythological fraternity of tramps, hoboes, and ne’er-do-wells called “The Rose Tattoo.”

Hovering on the edge of reality, The Rose Tattoo brings together a widely dispersed band of nomads who hold in common their experience of travel by freight train, an ability to carry a tune, and the tattoo of a rose somewhere on their persons. Their motto is mors ante servitium, which means “death before employment.”

This years Roses are Kuddie from Nevada City; Mark Ross of Eugene, Ore.; John Weise of Lake Shore, Wash.; Bob and Diana Suckiel in from Kansas City, Mo.; Bodie and Jackson Wagner, over from the Ridge; J.B. Freeman down from Denver, Colo.; and Brendan Phillips, son of Utah from Portland, Ore.