Jimmy Driftwood died July 12, 1998. Here is the Associated Press report of his death.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Folk singer-songwriter Jimmy Driftwood, whose penning of the "Battle of New Orleans" vaulted him to fame 40 years ago, died Sunday. He was 91.Driftwood had a stroke several weeks ago and had been recuperating at a hospital when he suffered a heart attack that proved fatal.
Born James Corbett Morris, he changed his name to Jimmy Driftwood and went on to write some 6,000 folk songs, 300 of which were published or recorded.
He was a schoolteacher before he went on to his music career, and said he wrote the "Battle of New Orleans" as part of a history lesson for his students. Driftwood recorded the song in 1957, but a 1960 version by the late Johnny Horton made the tune a huge hit.
He won Grammy awards for "The Battle of New Orleans," "Wilderness Road," "Songs of Billy Yank and Johnny Reb" and "Tennessee Stud," which was a big hit for Eddy Arnold.
Driftwood performed with the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville, Tenn., and on stages across the United States and Europe, but spent most of his life at the family farm in Timbo, west of Mountain View in north Arkansas' Ozark Mountains.
He came up with the idea for the Ozark Folk Center at Mountain View and helped establish the annual Ozark Folk Festival.
Driftwood also helped save the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas from damming in the 1950s and 1960s. The river remains free-flowing and is now the Buffalo National River.
Click here for a Web page set up as a memorial to Jimmy Driftwood.