Banjo Art Inspired by Pete Seeger

My Dad requested that I do an art project for him.  He's a retired physician turned musician and plays stand up bass for WildRoot String Band.  He also plays fiddle and banjo.

He asked me to draw the words "This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender" on his banjo in tribute to musician/activist Pete Seeger who passed away this year.  My previous artistic contribution to my Dad's banjo was to paint a crescent moon and stars on his case a number of years back.

Being an artist for hire, and an admirer of Pete Seeger, I readily agreed!  In preparation for my task, I searched for images of Pete's banjo.  

photo by Annie Leibovitz

I discovered that Pete had written his message on not just one, but many of his banjos.

photo by Annie Leibovitz

They all had different visual appeal.

photo by Jeff Bogle

I also learned that Seeger's inspiration for banjo graffiti came from his friend and music associate, Woody Guthrie.

Library of Congress photo

Guthrie had set a precedent by inscribing "This Machine Kills Fascists" on many of his guitars.

photo by Lester Balog

Guthrie Archive photo

I selected the Seeger banjo image I liked best and proceeded to write Pete's peaceful proclamation in similar fashion on my Dad's banjo.

While working on it, I noticed that Seeger's banjo has a misspelling.  SURRENDER is spelled SURRRENDER with an extra R.  I wondered if this was intentional, but upon scrutinizing the other banjo photos I could see that they were spelled correctly.  Pete must have just goofed this one when he wrote it.  It was exciting to discover this oddity so I didn't fix it.

After rendering the quote in pencil on the banjo head, I finished it with black fine-point marker.

Strings back in place.  Pete's message lives on through another banjo!

Here's my Dad with his upright bass in WildRoot String Band.

WildRoot String Band

Dave Frenzel - guitar, Bruce Brown (my Dad) - bass, Dan Palmer - banjo, Tom Owens - fiddle