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Chanteur Country US né James Corbett Morris, le 20
Juin 1907 à Mountain
View (Arkansas). Jimmie Driftwood est décédé le 12 Juillet 1998.
Jimmie
Driftwood was almost an anachronism in the years he was at his commercial peak,
from 1957 through 1961. A schoolteacher by training, he originally started
writing songs as a way of helping his students learn about history, and
subsequently composed (or collected and re-composed) over 5,000 songs, many of
them dealing with some element of America's past and its history, telling old
folk tales, or preserving some aspect of the daily lives of the people who sang
them. Only one modern figure in folk music remotely approaches his contribution
to American song and the popular understanding of its roots, and that is Lee
Hays of the Weavers -- Driftwood was never the activist that Hays was, however,
being more concerned with teaching than political causes and, thus, never
engendered either the blacklisting or the subsequent canonization by the Left
that Hays received. And Hays, for all of his leftist sympathies, was never
invited to sing before Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on the occasion of the
first visit of any Soviet leader to the United Nations, as Driftwood was.
In September of 1959, in the midst of the rock & roll era and the burgeoning
boom in folk music, Driftwood had half a dozen of his songs somewhere on the
American charts, pop or country. The best known of these was "The Battle of New
Orleans," which managed to top both the country and pop charts in a version
recorded by
Johnny Horton, but also charting in September of 1959 were "Tennessee Stud,"
as recorded by country giant
Eddy Arnold,
Hawkshaw Hawkins' version of "Soldier's Joy," Johnny and Jack's "Sailor
Man,"
Horton's recording of "Sal's Got a Sugar Lip," and
Homer & Jethro's parody "The Battle of Kookamonga."
Moreso than Hays,
Pete Seeger, or
Woody Guthrie, Driftwood helped pull together elements of folk, pop, and
country music and gave the mass public some sense of the history of all of it in
the bargain.
James Corbett Morris' father was a singer who was well-known locally and who had
been recorded by several folk song collectors in the early decades of the 20th
century. He learned traditional folk songs from his mother and grandmother,
while his father and grandfather taught him old-style fiddle tunes. And
he grew up seemingly knowing every folk tale that there was to learn from the
Ozarks, from whites and Native Americans (of whom there were many, including his
future wife, who was one-quarter Cherokee) alike. It was his grandfather on his
father's side, a fiddle maker, who built him the unique guitar that he used
throughout his career, the neck made from a fence rail, the sides from an ox
yoke, and the head and bottom from the headboard of a bed.
He began writing poetry at an early age, encouraged by a teacher. After
graduating high school, he attended John Brown College and later qualified as a
teacher, eventually earning a proper education degree from Arkansas Teachers
College. During the late '20s and early '30s, when he was still trying to earn
some college credits, he headed west to Arizona, driving in an old Model A Ford
that made it as far as Texas and hitchhiking the rest of the way. There wasn't
much work to be found there in the midst of the Great Depression, but then an
opportunity arose through a singing contest sponsored by a local radio station
-- he had his guitar with him and had written a song called "Arizona."
He won the contest, which got him a spot on the station in the early morning
hours, if he could find a sponsor. He eventually found one, in the guise of the
grocery store chain that was willing to hire him as a worker and back his show.
He was later taken in by an older couple who had heard him through the contest
and not only gave him a place to live, but brought his mother -- who, as it
turned out, was dying from secondhand smoke from his father's cigarette habit --
out to Arizona. She died in Arizona, and eventually his father died of cancer as
well, by which time Driftwood was back in Arkansas teaching.
It was while teaching history in elementary school that he discovered the
positive influence of music in presenting the panorama of American history. He
wrote "The Battle of New Orleans," drawing his melody from the traditional
fiddle tune "The Eighth of January," in order to help his students distinguish
between the events of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the War of 1812.
All of the songs and stories that he'd heard during his childhood now stood him
in good stead, as he was able to draw on a multitude of tales and traditional
melodies, as well as devise his own traditional-sounding melodies, to deliver up
songs as needed for his students or anyone else who would listen.
Driftwood married a former student of his, Cleda Azalea Johnson, in 1936, and
the couple moved into a home that they built together, where they later raised
their family. For the next 20 years, his life was concerned almost exclusively
with teaching and his family, and during that time he wrote thousands of songs,
almost all having to do with some aspects of American history.
By the 1940s, he had his college degree and proper teaching credentials and was
becoming a well-known local figure. That might have been as far as the music
took James Corbett Morris, as he was still known, but for several cultural
changes that were taking place far from his home. The late '40s had seen the
beginnings of a revival of interest in folk music, with the success of the
Almanac Singers and their successors, the Weavers, who transformed an activist
songwriting process into popular success. Although their careers were
interrupted by a political backlash against their activist roots, the 1950s saw
a spread of interest in folk music and the roots and stories behind it to the
college campuses, newly swelling with the ranks of middle-class students.
By the mid-'50s, Driftwood suddenly found himself being sought after by scholars
and folk song collectors, and he also began receiving invitations to speak at
colleges and universities throughout the South and beyond. In 1957, a friend of
Driftwood's, Hugh Ashley, told a friend of his, Don Warden, a steel guitar
player in
Porter Wagoner's band who had just started up a new publishing company and
was looking for material, about a schoolteacher who'd written a huge number of
songs that seemed to be pretty catchy, at least among the local school children.
At that time, he was still legally James Morris. The name Jimmie Driftwood was
the outcome of a joke played on his grandmother when he was born -- his
grandfather had handed his wife a bundle that was supposed to be Jimmie, but
proved to be a piece of wood, to which his grandmother exclaimed, "It's just a
piece of driftwood." Morris liked the "Driftwood" name and picked it up and used
it, both publicly and legally, from the late '50s onward. Warden signed
Driftwood up as a songwriter after hearing him run through 100 songs, of which
"The Battle of New Orleans" was the last. The folk boom was in full swing, and
he was signed soon after to RCA Victor, which was looking for folksingers.
Driftwood's first recording session was held on October 27, 1957, the same month
he signed with the label, and the first song he cut -- to his own guitar
accompaniment with backing from
Chet Atkins on guitar and Bob L. Moore on bass -- was "The Battle of New
Orleans." There were 11 songs cut that day, all of which ended up on his first
album, the rather awkwardly titled Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs,
issued in the summer of 1958. That album sold in small but respectable numbers,
and received good reviews, but there was no hit single from it, principally
because "The Battle of New Orleans" didn't get much airplay, a result of the use
of the words "hell" and "damn" in the lyrics.
A second set of sessions was scheduled for November of 1958, but in the meantime,
Warden's work as Driftwood's publisher was about to pay off in a totally
unexpected way.
Wagoner had toured with
Horton late in 1958, and in the course of their work together, Warden had
pitched "The Battle of New Orleans" to
Horton by way of his manager,
Tillman Franks.
Horton immediately wanted to record the song, and after a few cuts that
reduced its length -- and an appearance on the Louisiana Hayride, where
Driftwood sang "The Battle of New Orleans" --
Horton cut the song on January 27, 1959, in Nashville.
Released early the following spring,
Horton's single eventually rose to the number one spot on the country charts,
which it held for ten weeks out of a 21-week run. Better yet, it crossed over
onto the pop charts for a 21-week stay in that much bigger arena, holding the
top spot there for six weeks out of that time.
Horton helped the song's cause and its exposure by performing it live on The
Ed Sullivan Show in June of that year.
Suddenly, everybody wanted to record Driftwood's songs, even as his own second
album, The Wilderness Road, was being released. That record, in the wake of the
exposure from
Horton's single, sold considerably better than his first. By mid-1959,
Driftwood's success was confirmed with dozens of recordings of his songs either
out or in the works, and then there came the moment in September of that year
when six of those records were on the Billboard chart simultaneously. "The
Battle of New Orleans" earned him a Grammy Award, and The Wilderness Road not
only sold well but yielded an additional Grammy, followed three years later by
another award for Billy Yank and Johnny Reb.
The unusual nature of his success at first confused Driftwood, who originally
thought of the publishing contract as a vehicle by which to get his songs heard,
that he might succeed as a recording artist. His records did sell, but never in
numbers resembling
Horton's recording of "The Battle of New Orleans," which easily became a
gold record and sold in huge numbers around the world -- it can safely be
considered the model upon which not only direct successors such as
Horton's "Sink the Bismarck" were built, but also the impetus behind the
willingness of labels like Columbia Records to record such more topical-historical
songs as Pete Le Farge's "Ballad of Ira Hayes," in both its original form and
the version by
Johnny Cash, and even extending to England, where American-born skiffle/country
star
Johnny Duncan recorded "The Legend of Gunga Din."
He expected lots of money from RCA, and there was some, to be sure. But the
checks he got from Warden's publishing company were enormous, in the five-figure
range, which, by the standards of Timbo, AR, in 1959, was about as much money as
anyone had ever seen. It set Driftwood and his wife and family up comfortably
for years to come, and allowed them to buy all of the land they wanted for
themselves.
"The Battle of New Orleans" was recut by Driftwood in a slightly more commercial
arrangement, and in stereo, and it had a short run of its own on the country
charts in mid-1959, its sales only a pale shadow of
Horton's record, which was still riding the charts.
Driftwood was still a star, however, and in April of that year performed at
Carnegie Hall in New York, made the folk festivals in Berkeley and Newport,
received an honorary doctorate in American folklore from Peabody College in
Nashville, TN, sang before the United Nations for Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev's visit, appeared on network television game shows (To Tell the Truth,
etc.), and got regular spots on the Grand Ol' Opry, the Louisiana Hayride, and
the Ozark Jubilee.
Amid all of this activity, Driftwood was forced to end his teaching career,
which didn't sit well with him. He continued to educate audiences, most notably
those consisting of other teachers, about the power of songs as a teaching tool,
and was an invited lecturer before many national teachers meetings and
organizations throughout the early '60s.
Finally, in the early '60s, Driftwood found a cause closer to home that he could
devote himself to, the Arkansas Folk Festival, which eventually attracted
100,000 people every year to hear the musicians that performed there. That led
to the formation of the Rackansack Folklore Society, which led to the building
of the Ozark Folk Center in the early '70s. His next endeavor was the Jimmie
Driftwood Barn, which became a major performing showcase for players from the
Rackansack Folklore Society. Driftwood's other concerns included environmental
issues, among them the preservation of the Blanchard Caverns in Arkansas, and
the Buffalo River. He served as head of the Arkansas Parks and Tourism
Commission and was named to the Advisory Committee of the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and worked as a musicologist for the
National Geographic Society. During the 1960s and 1970s, in the course of this
work, he appeared before audiences at hundreds of colleges and universities.
Driftwood's recording career ended in 1961, but his six albums for RCA remain a
compelling country-folk legacy. Artists from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen can
trace some elements of their repertory and success to his unique brand of
songwriting, and even '80s roots-rock outfits like the Del Lords have performed
his songs with the kind of fervor that most acts usually reserve for songs by
Dylan and
Guthrie. Driftwood died on July 12, 1998, in Fayetteville Arkansas; he was
91.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Driftwood
Talents : Guitar, Mouth Bow, Fiddle, Banjo
Style musical : Traditional Country, Folk
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS (1959)
SAL'S GOT A SUGAR LIP (1959)
TENNESSEE STUD (1959)
RUN JOHNNY RUN (1959)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & EP
| 1952 | SP CARDINAL 5000 (US) | . | Grapevine News / Precious Peace Of Mine |
| 04/1959 | SP RCA VICTOR 47-7534 (US) | . |
Battle Of New
Orleans
/ Damyankee Lad |
| 1959 | SP RCA VICTOR 47-7571 (US) | . |
Sal's Got A Sugar Lip
/ The Answer To The Battle Of New Orleans |
| 08/1959 | SP RCA VICTOR 47-7603 (US) | . | John Paul Jones / The Bear Flew Over The Ocean |
| 1959 | EP RCA VICTOR EPA-4345 (US) |
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SOLDIER´S JOY -
Soldier's Joy / Razorback Steak /
Tennessee Stud
/ Arkansas Traveler |
| 12/1960 | EP RCA VICTOR RCX 191 (UK) |
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COUNTRY GUITAR - VOLUME 13 - Unfortunate Man / Fair Rosamond's Bower / Old Joe Clark / I'm Too Young To Marry / Zelma Lee |
| 12/1960 | EP RCA VICTOR RCX 193 (UK) |
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TALL TALES IN SONG VOL. 1 - Big John Davey / The Shanty In The Holler / The Battle Of San Juan Hill / St. Brendon's Isle (The World's Largest Fish) |
| 03/1961 | EP RCA VICTOR RCX 195 (UK) |
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TALL TALES IN SONG VOL. 2 - Tucumcari / The Song Of Creation / Big River Man / He Had A Long Chain On |
| 04/1961 | EP RCA VICTOR RCX 198 (UK) |
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TALL TALES IN SONG VOL. 3 - Fidi Diddle Um A-Dazey / On Top Of Pike's Peak / Big Hoss / Banjer Pickin' Man |
| 1961 | EP RCA VICTOR EPA 9022 (GER) |
The Westward Movement - The Pony Express / The Wilderness Road / Mooshatanio / I'm Leaving On The Wagon Train |
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| 09/1963 | SP MONUMENT 45-825 (US) | . | Lonesome Ape / What Is The Color Of The Soul Of Man? |
| 1966 | SP RCA VICTOR 447-0585 (US) | . | Jimmy DRIFTWOOD -
Battle Of New
Orleans
/ Answer To Battle Of New Orleans |
| 1977 | SP QUEST INTERNATIONAL 0021 (US) | . | The Night Old Dixie Rose Again / Where Has The River Gone |
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Albums
| 06/1958 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-1635 (US) |
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JIMMIE DRIFTWOOD SINGS NEWLY DISCOVERED EARLY AMERICA FOLK SONGS - Battle Of New Orleans / Rattlesnake Song / Fair Rosamond's Bower / Country Boy / Soldier's Boy / Zelma Lee / Sailor Man / Unfortunate Man / Old Joe Clark / I'm Too Young To Marry / Pretty Mary |
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| 06/1959 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-1994 (mono) / LPS-1994 (stereo) (US) |
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WILDERNESS ROAD - Maid Of Argenta / Tennessee Stud / Arkansas Traveler / Bunker Hill / Run Johnny Run / Four Little Girls In Boston / First Covered Wagon / Peter Francisco / Slack Your Rope / Damyankee Lad / Razorback Steak / Songs Of The Cowboys | ||||
| 05/1960 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-2171 (mono) / LSP-2171 (stereo) (US) |
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WESTWARD MOVEMENT - Land Where The Blue Grass Grows / Widders Of Bowling Green / Mooshatanic / Sweet Betsy From Pike / Wilderness Road / Song Of The Pioneer / Shot The Buffalo / Get Along Boys / Jordan Am A Hard Road To Travel / Marshal Of Silvery City / Pony Express / I'm Leavin' On The Wagon Train | ||||
| 11/1960 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-2228 (mono) / LSP-2228 (stereo) (US) |
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TALL TALES IN SONG - Big John Davy / Fi Di Diddle Um A Dazey / On Top Of Pikes Peak / Big Hoss / Tucumcari / Song Of Creation / Big River Man / Banjer Pickin' Man / Shanty In The Holler / Battle Of San Juan Hill / St Brendon's Isle / He Had A Long Chain On | ||||
| 03/1961 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-2316 (mono) / LSP-2316 (stereo) (US) |
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SONGS OF BILLY YANK AND JOHNNY REB - Won't You Come Along And Go / Billy Yank And Johnny Reb / How Do You Like The Army / On Top Of Shiloh's Hill / I'm A Poor Rebel Soldier / Giant Of Thunderhead / Rock Of Chickamauga / My Black Bird Has Gone / Oh Florie / When I Swim The Golden River / Git Along Little Yearlings / Goodbye Reb You'll Come | ||||
| 04/1962 | LP 12" RCA VICTOR LPM-2443 (mono) / LSP-2443 (stereo) (US) |
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DRIFTWOOD AT SEA - SEA SHANTIES - Shanghied / Santy Anny O / Row Bullies Row / Land Of The Amazon / What Could I Do / Driftwood At Sea / In A Cotton Shirt And A Pair Of Dungarees / Davy Jones (Song Of A Dead Soldier) / Sailor Sailor Marry Me / Diver Boy / Ship That Never Returned / Sailing Away On The Ocean | ||||
| 09/1963 | LP 12" MONUMENT MLP-8006 (mono) / SLP-18006 (stereo) (US) |
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VOICE OF THE PEOPLE - What Is The Color Of The Soul Of A Man / Voice Of The People / Lonesome Ape / Standing On The Left Hand Side Of God / Battle Hymn Of Peace / My Church / Mixed-Up Family / I Remember Her Still / Straighten Out My Laig / (My Mammy's Miss America) My Daddy's Uncle Sam / Equality / My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went | ||||
| 1964 | LP 12" MONUMENT MLP-8019 (mono) / SLP-18019 (stereo) (US) |
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DOWN IN ARKANSAS - Ozark Bill / Horse Trader's Song / That's The Way They Do In Arkansas / Timbercutter's Song / On The Banks Of The Buffalo / Beautiful White River / In The Ouchita Mountains / Bows And Arrows / In A Mountain Village / Ballad Of Jim Berry | ||||
| 06/1966 | LP 12" MONUMENT MLP-8043 (mono) / SLP-18043 (stereo) (US) |
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THE BEST OF JIMMIE DRIFTWOOD - Battle Of New Orleans / Rattlesnake Song / Sailor Man / Shanty In The Hollow / Unfortunate Man / Long Chain / Tennessee Stud / Soldier's Joy / Giant Of The Thunderhead / Mooshatanio / Old Joe Clark / Wilderness Road | ||||
| 1974 | LP 12" RIMROCK RLP-496 (US) |
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A LESSON IN FOLK MUSIC - Leafola / Bow Medley / Raindrops / Put My Little Shoes Away / Sailor Man / I'm Gonna Go Huntin' (For The Buffalo) / Old Cotton Eyed Joe - Show Me Woman / Old Bill Jones / Arkansas Traveler / My Little Betsy Brown / White River Bend / Lass Of Rock Royal / Kitty Wells / Sailor's Lullaby / Grandpa Guitar Medley / Everytime I Hear The Rain A Fallin (In That Little Cabin In The Hill) | ||||
| 1978 | LP 12" RACKENSACK N1 78-825 (US) |
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BEAUTIFUL BUFFALO RIVER - Beautiful Buffalo River / Swing High Swing Low / When I Take My Vacation In The Hills / Beautiful Ozarks / On The Banks Of Beautiful Buffalo / Lover's River / You Got To Quit Kicking My Dog Around / Lip Fever / Where Is The River Gone / Mooshatanio / Steamboat Mountain / Bagpipe On The Fiddle / You Can't Keep From Lovin' The Buffalo | ||||
| 1978 | LP 12" RACKENSACK N1 78-836 (US) |
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I HEAR YOUR PEOPLE SINGING - Blanchard Cave / Ozark Symphony / Down On The Rocky Bayou / Sylamore Hills / Possom Hunters / Tragedy On The M And N / My Little Bettsy Brown / Kickapoo Trail / Hold Me Tight Arkansas / Beautiful White River Valley / Rackensack I Love You | ||||
| 1978 | 2 LP 12" RACKENSACK RLP-500/1 (US) |
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RACKENSACK CONCERT AT THE JIMMIE DRIFTWOOD BARN - Introduction / Arkansas Traveler / Water Is Wide / Bunker Hill / Shores Of Havana / Down By The Station / Loch Lomand / Brown Girl / Red Wing / Soldier's Joy / Farmer's Curst Wife / Lord Bateman / Go Tell Aunt Rhody / Letter From Home / Sailor On The Deep Blue Sea / Jimmy Crack Corn / Devil Among The Tailors / Buffalo Gals / Liberty / Silver Dagger / Harmonica Playing / When God Comes To Gather His Jewels / Hand Me Down My Walking Cane / Go Marching Along / Silver Bells / Away Over In The Promised Land / Three Little Babes / Columbus Jig / Uncle Eph / My Bonnie Lassie / Bagpipe In The Fiddle | ||||
| 1991 | CD COWGIRLBOY LP-5052 (GER) |
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AMERICAN HISTORY IN SONG - The Pony Express (I've Got To Carry The Mail) / First Covered Wagon / Fi Di Diddle Um A-Dazey / Bunker Hill / On Top Of Shiloh's Hill / I'm A Poor Rebel Soldier / He Had A Long Chain On / Battle Of New Orleans / John Paul Jones / Banjer Pickin' Man / Bear Flew Over The Ocean / Mooshatanio / Tucumcari / Sal's Got A Sugarlip / Answer To The Battle Of New Orleans (Road To Chalamette) | ||||
| 06/1994 | 3 CD BEAR FAMILY BCD-15465 (GER) |
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AMERICANA :
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| 03/2007 | CD OMNI OMNI-104 (AUS) |
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VOICE OF THE PEOPLE MUSIC - What Is The Color Of The Soul Of A Man? / The Voice Of The People / The Lonesome Ape / Standing On The Left Hand Side Of God / Battle Hymn Od Peace / My Church / Mixed-Up Family / I Remember Her Still / Straighten Out My Laig / My Mammy's Miss America My Daddy's Uncle Sam / Equality / My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went / Down In Arkansas / Timbercutter's Song / Courtin' Song / Ozark Bill / On The Banks Of The Buffalo / Beautiful White River Valley / In the Ouchita Mountains / The Horsetrader's Song / Bows And Arrows / Arrows And Bows / That's The Way They Do It Arkansas / In A Mountain Village / The Battle Of New Orleans / Unfortunate Man / Long Chain / Tennessee Stud / Wilderness Road | ||||
| 2013 | CD OMNI OMNI - 174 (AUS) |
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Jimmie Driftwood Sings Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs - Sings Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs (1958) : Battle Of New Orleans / Unfortunate Man / Fair Rosamond's Bower / Soldier's Joy / Country Boy / I'm Too Young To Marry / Pretty Mary / Sailor Man / Zelma Lee / Rattlesnake Song / Old Joe Clark / The Wilderness Road (1959) : Tennessee Stud / Razorback Steak / First Covered Wagon / The Maid Of Argenta / Bunker Hill / Song Of The Cowboys / Peter Francisco / Four Little Girls In Boston / Slack Your Rope / Run Johnny Run / Arkansas Traveler / Damnyankee Lad / Extra Tracks : The Land Where The Blue Grass Grows / The Widders Of Bowling Green / Mooshatanio / Jordan Am A Hard Road To Travel / I'm Leavin' On The Wagon Train / The Song Of Creation / He Had A Long Chain On / The Bear Flew Over The Ocean |
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| 2014 | 4 CD REAL GONE RGMCD115 (UK) |
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Six Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles :
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© Rocky Productions 5/04/2024
