Jimmy Driftwood died at the age of 91 in July of 1998.

He was a legend to Country & Western Fans
from around the world.
Much of the following is from an editorial in
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Jimmy Driftwood wrote 6,000 folk songs. More than 300 of these songs have been recorded or published.

His most famous is, perhaps, The Battle of New Orleans, which was recorded by Johnny Horton in 1959.

He retained his "down home" style in the face of his success, favoring the old instruments... banjo, acoustical guitars, dulcimers, bass washtubs and mouth bows.... the instruments of his roots.

He gained fame and success with his music, which he had begun to write as a means of sparking interest among his sixth grade history students. But he explained that "it wasn't that I didn't like Nashville... But I wasn't going to leave my home... Everything I ever was, everything I am, is back there. I had to come back. I had to come back. I wasn't gonna leave my family and friends. And there was work to be done."

He turned away from easy status and fortune, but as with many originals, the world followed him to his door. He entertained the great and the small all in his same warm style. His death severs a direct link with our pioneer past, but the legacy he leaves will continue what he started with those sixth graders. He lived in his beloved mountains with his wife until his time came to go home...

This"Epitaph" was published by the Democrat-Gazette

Tuesday, July 14, 1998

The elms and oaks have been my dear companions,
The maples know I've always been a friend,
And when my dust has settled down around them,
They'll open their doors and take me in,
So scatter my ashes o'er the mountains,
Let me sift down among the leaves,
Soon I'll be blooming on the hillside,
Speaking the language of the trees.

- Jimmy Driftwood-

1907 - 1998

You will be missed Jimmy.

"The Battle of New Orleans"

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