With My Banjo on My Knee: The Minstrel Songs of Stephen Foster

I love this book!

My husband loved it

This is a fantastic collection of Mr Foster's most popular songs. The tab is easy to understand and follow (although to timing is stiff in places) and should be accessable to anyone with a basic knowledge of banjo and tablature. There is also fine commentary on the songs themselves. How each was written, the meaning behinds the lyrics, Foster's take on it, etc. Over all, a fine collection.However...I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the forward / historical notes (primarily provided by Edwin J Sims) are very FAVORABLE towards the Minstrel Show institution. Nowhere in the book is the inherent racism of Minstrel shows and the performers there in even mentioned. Instead, Mr Sims states that Minstrel shows provided "wonderful entertainment" for the American pupclic and that, only after the civil war when blacks were no longer slaves (and we're, in fact, competing in the entertainment industry), did the Minstrel Shows become mean spirited and racist. This is wholey inaccurate. The institution of the Minstrel Show in America has always been built on a racist understanding of people and class. Mr Sims should know better because we ALL know better now. Hell, we all knew better then.PLEASE UNDERSTAND...In absolutely NO WAY do the notes by Mr Sims reduce the quality of the tabs, the beauty of the music, and the joy of playing these arrangements. It does, however (in my mind, at least), take away one star from the rating and also makes me cringe a little each time I go through the book.

This was a gift for a Banjo player, who was thrilled with it. I have ordered books on this subject for him in the past, nod I believe this is his favorite.