George “Banjo Fred” Starner
August 6, 1937 – October 25, 2009
Banjo Fred Starner was a banjoist and folk singer who helped document the hobo culture of America. Taking a cue from Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Starner not only set out to be a voice of the unheard, but also helped raise money for various humanitarian causes along the way. Starner taught himself to play the guitar and banjo while in college during the ’50s and was soon playing the folk festival circuit. He later became a college professor, and in 1969, found himself performing and working as a deck hand on the Clearwater, a boat launched by Seeger in New York’s Hudson River to educate people about the environment. By the late ’80s, Starner was living in Los Angeles where he continued to teach, write songs, and perform. It was while in Southern California that he began putting more focus on the hobo culture in both his songs, and his studies. From time to time he even performed at modern hobo encampments and for events sponsored by the American Hobo Association. Starner passed away of pneumonia and sarcoidosis in a medical facility at the age of 72.