Considered by many to be the father of American popular music, Stephen Foster achieved his first notable success with Oh! Susanna. This unique recording brings together arrangements for brass band of melodies written by Stephen Foster, as well as marches, quick-steps and dances based on his songs by contemporary bandleaders and composers. They embrace a wide variety of styles and topical subject matter, not least slavery, the Civil War and nostalgia for the past. All the instruments used on this recording date from the 1860s, a period when the newly-developed brass bands were the primary vehicle for public music.