Drive-By Truckers Album Artist and Beloved Friend, the Late Wes Freed, Honored by Band and Jason Isbell
Photo via Wes Freed’s GoFundMe
The Virginia-based visual artist Wes Freed, who is widely associated as the artist behind the Drive-By Truckers’ album art died, on Friday, Sept. 4, at the age of 58. While no cause of death was shared upon his passing, Freed was undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer and had a GoFundMe set up to help aid in his treatment.
The Richmond, Va. visual artist, who was also a musician, was renowned for his painted LP covers for musical artists, including Lauren Hoffman and Cracker but none so much as the Drive-By Truckers. His work graced their covers as early as 2001’s Southern Rock Opera and continued all the way up to Welcome 2 Club XIII, which was released on June 3 of this year. He also published a coffee-table book titled The Art Of Wes Freed: Paintings, Posters, Pin-ups And Possums in 2019. For the book, Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood wrote the foreword.
After Freed’s passing, Hood wrote a statement on Instagram, expressing his love for the late artist and how they met. “25 years ago today, I met one of my best friends in the whole world. Actually way beyond that. Wes Freed @cecilmccobb and his late wife Jyl invited @drivebytruckers to play their Capital City Barn Dance,” he shared. “We stayed at their haunted house outside of Richmond, and the rest is history. And so much more. Today we’re all grieving. I hope to write more about it when I can breathe again. Wes is flying with the Cooleybirds. We’ll love you forever.”
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On Friday, Jason Isbell, a former member of the Drive-By Truckers, played at the Ting Pavilion in Charlottesville, Va., and dedicated “Decoration Day,” a song that he wrote when he was with the Drive-By Truckers to Freed. Before he played, Isbell addressed the crowed. “He was one of the first people I met on the road on tour with the Drive-By Truckers, many, many years ago, more than 20 years ago,” he said. “I slept on his couch with his dog. I loved him. He was a great man and a great artist, and he painted the covers of all the Drive-By Truckers records. This is a song for him.”
Watch the performance below.
Watch CBS 6’s coverage of Freed’s passing below.
