Stephen Foster

Induction Year: 2010

Birth Name: Stephen Collins Foster

Birth Date: 07-04-1826

Place of Birth: Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania

Death Date: 01-13-1864

Place of Death: New York, New York

Stephen Foster is widely regarded as the father of American music. Born in 1826 in a Pittsburgh suburb, he rose to become the pre-eminent American songwriter of the nineteenth century. More than 150 years after their composition, songs such as "Oh! Susanna," "Beautiful Dreamer," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Camptown Races," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" and "Hard Times Come Again No More" continue to be recorded and sung.

Foster came from a musical family, and he took up the flute at an early age. At age 14, he wrote his first song. He was a 21-year-old bookkeeper with a steamship company in Cincinnati, Ohio, when his song "Oh! Susanna" became the unofficial anthem of the California Gold Rush, with 16 different musical publishers issuing printed sheet music of his song. Although he probably saw little of the money it made, the success of the song emboldened Foster to earn his living as a songwriter. He returned to Pennsylvania and signed a contract to provide songs for minstrel shows. Like most white Americans of his day, Foster was captivated by minstrel shows (in which white performers masqueraded as black entertainers), and he wrote prolifically for them.

Initially he was usually paid one-time fees for his creations. But in time he was able to negotiate payment for the sale of each piece of sheet music — the beginnings of what we now know as music royalties. This marked a turning point for songwriters, and the concept of compensating songwriters for their unique creations was cemented in the groundbreaking 1909 U.S. copyright law.

Foster wrote his best-known works in the early 1850s — "Camptown Races" (1850), "The Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee River," 1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853) and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854). The latter was inspired by his wife, Jane McDowell, whom he wed in 1850.

His fortunes declined and his marriage foundered after he moved to New York City in 1860. He died there in 1864 with 38 cents and a scrap of paper in his pocket that read, "Dear friends and gentle hearts." He was 37 years old.

His songs have proved enduring. In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York. In 2004, Foster was the subject of a Grammy-winning, multi-artist tribute album, Beautiful Dreamer. He was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.

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Song Catalog

 

"Ah May the Red Rose Live Always"

Suzy Bogguss2004 
Jay Ungar2007 
 

"Angelina Baker"

Uncle Eck Dunford1928 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Muriel Anderson2000 
Dry Branch Fire Squad2001 

"Beautiful Dreamer"

Frank Luther1931 
Glenn Miller1945 
Dick Haymes1947 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Mighty Joe Young film soundtrack1949 
Bing Crosby1949 
Al Jolson1950 
Slim Whitman1954 
George Morgan1961 
Don Gibson1961 
Marty Robbins1963 
Bobby Darin1963 
Roy Orbison1963 
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas1963 
The Searchers1964 
Hank Snow1964 
David Schnaufer1989 
Floyd Cramer1994 
Jerry Lee Lewis1996 
Mandy Barnett1999 
Raul Malo2004 
Jay Ungar2007 
 

"Camptown Races"

Billy Murray1911 
Bing Crosby1929 
Carson Robison1936 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Johnny Mercer1945 
Tex Ritter1946 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Al Jolson1950 
Mac Wiseman1955 
The Dave Brubeck Quartet1959 
Julie London1959 
Don Gibson1961 
Meade Lux Lewis1962 
The Vince Guaraldi Trio1966 
Porter Wagoner1966 
Pete Seeger2003 
The Duhks2004 
 

"Gentle Annie"

Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Kate & Anna McGarrigle1998 
Ollabelle2004 

"Hard Times Come Again No More"

Frank Coombs1913 
Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Jennifer Warnes1979 
The Red Clay Ramblers1981 
Mary Black1988 
Hugh Moffatt1989 
Syd Straw1989 
The Nashville Bluegrass Band1990 
Kate McGarrigle1991 
Emmylou Harris1992 
Nanci Griffith1998 
Mike Dowling2000 
Yo-Yo Ma2000 
Jay Ungar2000 
Bill Frisell2001 
Johnny Cash2003 
Mavis Staples2004 
Darol Anger2005 
Garrison Keillor2006 
The Isaacs2009 

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"

Lambert Murphy1922 
John McCormack1934 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Gene Krupa1939 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Bing Crosby1949 
Al Jolson1950 
Dave Brubeck1959 
Charlie Rich1960 
Acker Bilk1962 
Isaac Stern1990 
Roger McGuinn2004 
Jay Ungar2007 
 

"Lou'siana Belle"

Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Nelson Eddy1948 
 

"Massa's in de Cold Ground"

Archer Porter1925 
The Yellow Jackets1930 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1936 
The Golden Gate Quartet1937 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Al Jolson1950 
The Banjo Kings1999 
 

"My Old Kentucky Home"

The Edison Male Quartette1898 
The Haydn Quartet1903 
Alma Gluck1916 
The Columbia Stellar Quartet1918 
The Woodlawn Quartette1927 
Chief Pontiac1928 
Edith Mason1928 
Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Artie Shaw1938 
Gene Krupa & His Orchestra1939 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Erroll Garner1949 
Bing Crosby1949 
Al Jolson1950 
Merle Travis1960 
Alan Price1970 
Chris Barber's Jazz Band1993 
Don Reno1994 
John Prine2004 
Crystal Gayle2006 
 

"Nelly Bly"

Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Louise Massey & the Westerners1941 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Grandpa Jones1979 
Roger Wagner2004 
 

"Nelly Was a Lady"

Frank Coombs1913 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
The Golden Gate Quartet1944 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Dave Olney2005 

"Oh! Susanna"

Wendell Hall1924 
Riley Puckett1924 
Vernon Dalhart1927 
Bing Crosby1929 
Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Carson Robison1936 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Gene Autry1936 
The Light Crust Doughboys1936 
Sammy Kaye1945 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Al Jolson1950 
Floyd Cramer1953 
The Singing Dogs1955 #22 pop
Connie Francis1961 
Ted Heath Orchestra1964 
The Byrds1965 
Taj Mahal1971 
James Taylor1971 
Jesse Ed Davis1972 
Peter Rowan1984 
The Oak Ridge Boys1992 
Jonathan Edwards1994 
Pete Seeger1997 
Richie Havens1998 
Michelle Shocked & Pete Anderson2004 
Lisa Loeb2007 
Carly Simon2007 
 

"Old Black Joe"

Thomas Craig1898 
The Peerless Quartet1908 
The Fisk Jubilee Singers1909 
Vernon Dalhart1923 
Riley Puckett1924 
Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Gene Krupa & His Orchestra1935 
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra1938 
Artie Shaw1938 
Bing Crosby1940 
The Mills Brothers1940 #30 pop
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra1941 
Randy Brooks & His Orchestra1946 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Al Jolson1950 
Jerry Lee Lewis1960 
Johnny Cash1970 
Jim Kweskin1971 
Van Morrison2000 
Linda Gail Lewis2004 

"Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)"

Len Spencer1892 
Vess Ossman1900 
The Haydn Quartet1904 
Alma Gluck1915 
Vernon Dalhart1923 
Riley Puckett1924 
Fiddlin' John Carson1927 
Louis Armstrong1928 
Ernest Thompson1930 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
The Mills Brothers1936 
Jimmie Lunceford1936 
Bunny Berigan1937 
Texas Jim Lewis1937 
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys1938 
Golden Gate Quartet1938 
Tommy Dorsey1940 
Gene Krupa & His Orchestra1946 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Al Jolson1950 
Ray Charles1957 #14 R&B, #34 pop
Julie London1959 
David Ball2004 
 

"Old Uncle Ned"

Fiddlin' John Carson1925 
Uncle Dave Macon1926 
Sons of the Pioneers1935 
Frank Luther & Zora Layman1936 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Burl Ives1950 
 

"Open Thy Lattice, Love"

Frank Luther1936 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Roger Wagner2004 
 

"Ring, Ring de Banjo"

The Sons of the Pioneers1935 
The Bourbon Street Stompers1969 
Banjomania1994 
The Banjo Kings1999 
 

"Slumber My Darling"

Nelson Eddy1948 
Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer & Mark O'Connor2004 
 

"Sweetly She Sleeps My Alice Fair"

John McCormack1934 
Bing Crosby1941 
Nelson Eddy1948 
Jay Ungar2007 

Other Media

Stephen Foster

Induction Year: 2010