Jimmy Driftwood at home in Arkansas
Photo by J. Gerald Crawford
Jimmy Driftwood was born 115 years ago today.
Born James Corbitt Morris, Driftwood was a prolific American folk music songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud." He wrote over 6,000 folk songs — of which more than 300 were recorded by various musicians.
Born in Timbo, Arkansas, his father was the folk singer, Neil Morris. Driftwood learned to play the guitar at a young age on his grandfather's homemade instrument. He used that unique guitar throughout his career and noted that its neck was made from a fence rail, its sides from an old ox yoke and the head and bottom from the headboard of his grandmother's bed. The instrument produced a pleasant, distinctive resonant sound.
Driftwood attended John Brown College in northwest Arkansas and later received a degree in education from Arkansas State Teacher's College. He started writing songs during his teaching career to teach his students history in an entertaining manner.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Driftwood left Arkansas, eventually hitchhiking through the southwestern United States. In Arizona, he entered, and won, a local song contest. In 1936, he married Cleda Johnson, who was one of his former students. He returned to Arkansas to raise a family and resume his teaching career.
During this period of his life, Driftwood wrote hundreds of songs but did not pursue a musical career seriously. He wrote his later famous, "Battle of New Orleans," in 1936 to help a high school class he was teaching become interested in the event.
In the 1950s, he changed his name to Jimmy Driftwood, both publicly and legally. In 1957, a Nashville, Tennessee song publisher learned of Driftwood, auditioned him and signed him to his first record deal.
Driftwood recalled playing some 100 of his songs in one day, of which 20 were chosen to be recorded. Driftwood's first album, Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs, received good reviews but did not sell particularly well.
"The Battle of New Orleans" was included on the album, but did not conform to the radio standards of the time because of the words "hell" and "damn" in the lyrics. Driftwood said that at the time those words could be preached but not sung in secular contexts for broadcast.
Driftwood was asked to make a shorter censored version of the song for a live radio performance. Singer Johnny Horton, after hearing the song, contacted Driftwood and told him that he wished to record his own version.
Driftwood left Arkansas for Nashville and became popular by his appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and programs including Ozark Jubilee and Louisiana Hayride. He was invited to sing for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as an example of traditional American music during the leader's visit to the United States. He became a member of the Opry in the 1950s.
The popular peak of Driftwood's career came in 1959 when he had no fewer than six songs on the popular and country music charts, including Johnny Horton's recording of his "The Battle of New Orleans," which remained in first place on the country music singles chart for ten weeks, and atop the popular music chart for six weeks that year.
After Horton's success, Driftwood performed at Carnegie Hall and at major American folk music festivals before returning home to Timbo, Arkansas in 1962. For a time during the 1960s, Driftwood toured the United States and Europe as a separate act with the Preservation Hall New Orleans jazz band.
Back home, he became a folklorist, establishing the Rackensack Folklore Society, an association of local folk singers and musicians, and began performing at the local county fair in Mountain View.
Driftwood helped establish the Ozark Folk Center to preserve Ozark Mountain culture. The Folk Center was later absorbed into the Arkansas State Park system and remains a popular tourist destination.
Driftwood died of a heart attack on July 12, 1998 in Fayetteville, Arkansas at age 91.
Here, he plays a guitar medley on his famous 130 year old guitar