Stephen Foster: American Musical Icon | Ryan Ranch

Course Description:

Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter, and some of his songs are among the most famous tunes in the world. In this myth-busting presentation, singer, guitarist and historian David Gordon describes Foster's brief and poignant life, and how he sought to distance himself from his early, coarse minstrel songs and create a new, compassionate style of American ballad. Abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass said Foster’s mature songs were “...heart songs, and the finest feelings of human nature are expressed in them.”