Larry Hinze's video: HOYT AXTON Music Jam HQ

Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American folk music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well known throughout the world. Among them were "Joy to the World", "The Pusher", "No No Song", "Greenback Dollar", and "Never Been to Spain". Axton spent some time struggling with cocaine addiction and several of his songs, including "The Pusher", "Snowblind Friend", and "No-No Song", partly reflect his negative drug experiences. He had been known as an opponent of drug use for many years when, in February 1997, he and his wife were arrested at their Montana home for possession of approximately 500 grams of marijuana, a little over a pound. His wife explained later that she offered Axton marijuana to relieve pain and stress following a 1995 stroke; both were fined and given deferred sentences. Axton never fully recovered from his stroke, and still had to use a wheelchair much of the time. His mother, Mae, drowned in a hot tub at her Tennessee home in 1997. Hoyt Axton died of a heart attack in Victor, Montana, on October 26, 1999, at the age of 61, after suffering a severe heart attack two weeks earlier.