Stephen Foster at 200
Stephen Foster was born on July 4th, 1826 as America celebrated its jubilee Independence Day. He was the composer of many popular early American songs including “Oh! Susanna," “Camptown Races,” and “Swanee River." As we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence and the 200th anniversary of Foster’s birth, it is high time for a critical reappraisal of his legacy. Join hosts Jason Lee Guthrie and Jennie Lightweis-Goff as they interview the experts and decipher the coded history of American music on Stephen Foster at 200.
Episodes
On today's episode, Jennie talks with Jim Davis, professor of musicology and chair of the music history area at SUNY Fredonia. Jim has written extensively about the music of the Civil War, expanding our conceptions of the fireside music of the front line, the fiddles and fifes of documentaries and films that represent the period. Jim and I have a wide-ranging conversation, not only about the music that Civil War soldiers knew, but ...
On today's episode, Jason talks with Chris Lynch, about an understudied early Foster composition entitled “Where Is Thy Spirit Mary?” Chris is Head of the Theodore M. Finney Music Library at the University of Pittsburgh and has done extensive work at the Center for American Music helping to preserve and catalog primary sources related to Stephen Foster. He is a music historian with expertise on topics ranging from ninet...
On today's episode, Jennie talks with Petra Meyer-Frazier, a musicologist who studies 19th century American music and culture. She teaches at the University of Denver and is the author of the book Bound Music, Unbound Women. Petra studies how women make and curate music, and so we talk about why Foster became the iconic American songwriter, the one 19th century songwriter that everyone remembers. We discuss the classical models he ...
On today's episode, Jennie talks with Kathryn Miller Haynes, Head of the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh. The center is a successor institution of the Foster Hall Collection, the cornerstone of concrete memorial culture that sprung up around Stephen Foster in the early 20th century. Kathy is also a novelist and, as you'll hear, a great conversationalist. Remembering Stephen Foster has always been a fraught...
Welcome to Stephen Foster at 200, a companion podcast to the edited volume Stephen Foster at 200: A Critical Reappraisal. In this first episode, hosts Jason Lee Guthrie and Jennie Lightness-Goff sit down with Robin James, the book's editor. Our conversation covered the project's background and why we were interested in writing about Stephen Foster in 2026.
To learn more about the show and the book, visit our website at: www.StephenF...
On July 4th, 1826, America celebrated its jubilee Independence Day and mourned the loss of two founding fathers. It also welcomed the birth of a boy in Pittsburgh who would one day be known as the “Father of American Music.”
Stephen Foster was the composer of many popular early American songs including “Camptown Races,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Swanee River,” and “Beautiful Dream...
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