The song about Casey Jones, a railroad engineer who gives his life on the job, would most likely fall under the folk song category of ballad.
Casey Jones was a railroad engineer known for his speed who died in 1900, after he colliding with another train. He was immortalized as an American folk hero with the release of Wallace Saunders's song "The Ballad of Casey Jones."
Ballad is a short story in verse, which is intended to be sung with the accompaniment of music.
