Wes Freed Obituary

Wes Freed, an American outsider artist whose works appeared on album covers of Lauren Hoffman and numerous American rock bands, including Cracker and the Drive-By Truckers, has died. He was born April 25, 1964 and died September 4, 2022 at age 58.

Drive-By Truckers confirmed his death on their Facebook page, saying “I know word is out. I’ll be posting something when I can. Just too damned sad right now to articulate anything.”

After meeting Drive-By Truckers in the late ‘90s at Capital City Barn Dance—a music festival, he co-founded—the first of their many collaborations was the artwork he created for the band’s 2001 double LP Southern Rock Opera, which featured a red-eyed owl flying over a burning field.

He later went on to design posters, t-shirts, backdrops, and other merch for the band. More so, the “Cooley Bird” character he created would become visually synonymous with the band (and guitarist Mike Cooley).

A staple of the Richmond, Virginia, rock scene, Freed also played in several local bands including the Shiners, Dirt Ball, and Mud Helmet.

In 2019, he published The Art of Wes Freed: Paints, Posters, Pin-Ups & Possums, a coffee-table book collecting a wide range of his works.

Freed was raised in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and he intended to move to New York to become an artist.

However, he relocated to Richmond, Virginia, in 1983 to study painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He eventually remained in Richmond until his death.