Wes Freed - Side Notes

Side Notes

Wes currently lives in Mechanicsville, Virginia with his wife and their small menagerie of animals which has included a pair of Virginia opossums, among other things.

Freed stopped actively pursuing a musical career around 2001, partially to be able to concentrate more on his artwork. With his weekends free for the first time in his adult life, he was able to become a full-time NASCAR fan. One of his favorite memories and crowning achievements is having had his signature "Drive-by Truckers" lettering featured on the #07 Jack Daniel's Nextel Cup car, driven at the time by NASCAR driver and former World of Outlaws Champion, Dave Blaney. This was facilitated by The Drive-by Truckers affiliation with the Jack Daniels company.

Some of his artistic influences are Giorgio de Chirico, Robert Williams (artist), Phillip Guston (later work), R. Crumb, Miles Carpenter, Amadeo Modigliani and Edward Gorey.

Before his affiliation with Drive-by Truckers, Freed was rapidly becoming popular for his renderings of famous musical artists, and still gets a lot of commission requests for a wide variety of musicians. Among some of the portraits he has done through the years have been Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Richard Thompson (musician), George Jones, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams Sr., Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, Ronnie Van Zant, Ronnie Van Zant & Robert Johnson (musician), Gram Parsons and Keith Richards, Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard playing poker, Nick Cave, The Band, The Carter Family, Jerry Garcia & Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and more.