A nation weary of war turned to the new, uniquely American form of entertainment, the minstrel show, to find escape. Crude jokes, slapstick, comic plays would evolve Into and eventually be replaced by Vaudeville. From the first performance to the last obscure minstrel, music was the glue that held everything together. Stephen Collins Foster was one of the premiere songwriters of the Civil War era as demonstrated by ten of the songs in this recording. His tunes were given the ultimate honor of being parodied time and again.
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