A documentary made while the Songbirds Guitar Museum was preparing to close for good in August 2020 is keeping the memory of the world’s largest collection of rare and unique guitars alive on the independent film festival circuit.
“Songbirds: A Documentary Film” was created by Dagan Beckett with the help of former Songbirds staff members and uber guitar fans Irving Berner and David Davidson, along with many former employees and musicians who played the venue or sat for a “Vault Sessions” online video interview.
Beckett was a frequent museum attendee and a film producer, and when it was announced that the museum was closing for good because of the pandemic, he wanted to document as much of it as he could.
He approached Johnny Smith, Songbirds’ executive director and Songbirds Foundation board chairman, with the idea. Smith told him he had one week, and Beckett was given full access. Almost immediately, curator Irv Berner latched onto the idea and offered his help in telling the stories of the guitars one by one.
“I got a call from [co-worker] Jimmy Kelly who said this guy is shooting this video and we all need to be here tomorrow, and I personally freaked out,” Berner said. “I always wanted to do a coffee table book and document all of this because all I could think about was there is no record of this.”