Editing Stephen Foster (section)

===Musical influence===
{{listen
| type         = music
| filename     = Oh Susanna.ogg
| title        = "Oh! Susanna" (1848)
| description  = Stephen Foster's "[[Oh! Susanna]]" performed by the United States Navy Concert Band
| filename2    = Foster - Schumann-Heink - Old Folks at Home (rec. 1918).ogg
| title2       = "Old Folks at Home"
| description2 = "Old Folks at Home" performed by [[Ernestine Schumann-Heink]] (1918)
}} Many early filmmakers selected Foster's songs for their work because his copyrights had expired and cost them nothing.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lerner |first=Neil |date=September 2006 |title=Review: ''Tunes for 'Toons': Music and the Hollywood Cartoon'' by Daniel Goldmark |journal=Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association |volume=63 |number=1 |pages=121–124 |jstor=4487739}}</ref>
* Professor of Folklore and musician John Minton wrote a song titled "Stephen C. Foster's Blues".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://myspace.com/thepossumtrotorchestra/music/song/stephen-c.-foster-s-blues-74384088-82081738 |title=Stephen C. Foster's Blues |publisher=The Possum Trot Orchestra |access-date=May 10, 2015}}</ref>
* Walt Kelly recorded an a cappella rendition of Foster's "Old Dog Tray" on the 1956 album, ''Songs of the Pogo''. Kelly regularly referenced "Old Dog Tray" as the theme song for his character, Beauregard Hound Dog, from his comic strip, ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]''.
* Erika M. Anderson, of the band EMA, refers to Foster's "Camptown Races" in the song "California", from ''past Life Martyred Saints'' (2011): "I bet my money on the bobtail nag/somebody bet on the bay."<ref>{{cite web |title=E.M.A. – California Lyrics|url=http://www.songlyrics.com/e-m-a/california-lyrics/ |publisher=SongLyrics |access-date=August 4, 2012}}</ref>
* The Firesign Theatre makes many references to Foster's compositions in their CD, ''Boom Dot Bust'' (1999, Rhino Records)
* Larry Kirwan of [[Black 47 (band)|Black 47]] mixes the music of Foster with his own in the musical ''[[Hard Times (musical)|Hard Times]]'', which earned a ''[[New York Times]]'' accolade in its original run: "a knockout entertainment". Kirwan gives a contemporary interpretation of Foster's troubled later years and sets it in the tumultuous time of the New York draft riots and the Irish–Negro relations of the period. A revival ran at the [[Cell Theater]] in New York in early 2014, and a revised version of the musical called ''Paradise Square'' opened at [[Berkeley Repertory Theatre]] in 2018.
* [[Gordon Lightfoot]] wrote a song in 1970 titled "Your Love's Return (Song for Stephen Foster)"
* [[Randy Newman]]'s 1970 album ''[[12 Songs (Randy Newman album)|12 Songs]]'' contained Newman's song "Old Kentucky Home" (originally titled "Turpentine and Dandelion Wine"), which is based on Foster's "[[My Old Kentucky Home|My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!]]" Newman told ''Billboard'' magazine, "It's a good song because Stephen Foster wrote the hook, that's why."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=White |first=Timothy |date=December 9, 2000 |title=Randy Newman's America: A Portrait of the Artist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 |magazine=Billboard |volume=112 |issue=50 |page=17}}</ref> Under various titles, Newman's "Old Kentucky Home" was covered by the [[The Beau Brummels|Beau Brummels]], the [[Alan Price Set]] and [[Johnny Cash]].
* [[Spike Jones]] recorded a comedy send-up "I Dream of Brownie with the Light Blue Jeans".
* Humorist [[Stanley Victor Freberg|Stan Freberg]] imagined a 1950s style version of Foster's music in "Rock Around Stephen Foster" and, with [[Harry Shearer]], had a sketch about Foster having writer's block in a bit from his "United States of America" project.
* Songwriter [[Tom Shaner]] mentions Stephen Foster meeting up with Eminem's alter ego "Slim Shady" on the Bowery in Shaner's song "Rock & Roll is A Natural Thing".
* The music of Stephen Foster was an early influence on the Australian composer [[Percy Grainger]], who stated that hearing "[[Camptown Races]]" sung by his mother was one of his earliest musical recollections. He went on to write a piece entitled "Tribute to Foster", a composition for mixed choir, orchestra, and pitched wine glasses based on the melody of "Camptown Races".<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Source guide to the music of Percy Grainger|date=1991|publisher=Pro/Am Music Resources|author=Lewis, Thomas P.|isbn=9780912483566|edition= 1st |location=White Plains, New York|oclc=24019532}}</ref>
* Art Garfunkel was cast as Stephen Foster and sang his songs in an elementary school play in Queens, New York <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236102/what-is-it-all-but-luminous-by-art-garfunkel/|title=What Is It All but Luminous by Art Garfunkel {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref>
* Foster's name is included in the rapid fire litany of musicians and songs that make up the lyrics of the 1974 pop novelty song "[[Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)]]" by Reunion.
* [[Neil Sedaka]] wrote and recorded a song about Foster and released it on his 1975 album, ''[[The Hungry Years]]''.
* [[Alternative country]] duo [[The Handsome Family]]'s song "Wildebeest", from their 2013 album ''[[Wilderness (The Handsome Family album)|Wilderness]]'', is about Foster's death.<ref name=allmusicHandsomeFamily>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wilderness-mw0002499079|title=Wilderness – The Handsome Family|publisher=Allmusic.com|last=Monger|first=James|access-date=2013-07-08}}</ref>
* [[Squirrel Nut Zippers]] wrote and recorded a song in 1998 titled "The Ghost of Stephen Foster".
* [[Stace England]] released in April 2024, as part of the group Foster's Satchel, a full-length album entitled ''Over the River: Stephen Foster Reimagined''.
* [[John Fogerty]] of Creedance Clearwater Revival has said Foster's music inspired his own music especially "Proud Mary".

[[File:1940 FamAmer e 1.png|thumb|200px| Foster commemorative stamp in the Famous American Composers series, 1940<ref>{{cite web |url= http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2028628 |title=1-cent Foster |publisher= Arago: people, postage & the post, Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date= May 10, 2015}}</ref>]]