Driftwood, Jimmy

▪ 1999

      American folksinger and songwriter (b. June 20, 1907, Mountain View, Ark.—d. July 12, 1998, Fayetteville, Ark.), wrote more than 6,000 folk songs but was best remembered for his recording "The Battle of New Orleans," which won a Grammy award when Johnny Horton's 1960 version made the song a smash hit. The son of folksinger Neil Morris, Driftwood learned to play guitar on an instrument his grandfather made from a fence rail, an ox yoke, and the headboard of a bed. He performed at regional folk festivals after graduating from Arkansas State Teachers College and while teaching high school. After Driftwood received his second Grammy for "Tennessee Stud," a hit for Eddy Arnold, he accepted an offer to perform with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. He garnered additional Grammys for songs and albums, but his lifelong passion was the preservation of folk music and culture. In the early 1950s, under the aegis of RCA Victor, he compiled the album Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs. During the 1950s and '60s he worked successfully to prevent damming of the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas, now known as the Buffalo National River. Driftwood obtained $3.4 million in state funding to create the Ozark Folk Center, near Mountain View, and founded the annual Ozark Folk Festival. With his wife, Cleda, he opened the Driftwood Barn, where he performed free of charge; he passed the hat, however, to help defray expenses. Requesting that the space be used to study folk music, he later deeded it to his alma mater, now the University of Central Arkansas. He performed throughout the U.S. and Europe but remained close to his roots, living on his farm in the Ozark Mountains.

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