Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wes Freed


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. The article's subject is found to be notable, as shown by the sources presented by Cunard. &mdash; Coffee //  have a cup  //  beans  // 19:28, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Wes Freed

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Entirely unreferenced biography of a living person. Non-notable individual with no significant coverage in reliable sources. Mikeblas (talk) 15:13, 10 January 2016 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 05:19, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Virginia-related deletion discussions.  Human 3015   It will rain    08:22, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Bands and musicians-related deletion discussions.  Human 3015   It will rain    08:22, 17 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete - A search brings up only a couple of interviews or non-independent sources therefore fails WP:NARTIST. Dat GuyTalkContribs 10:38, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete - Nothing suggests better satisfying WP:CREATIVE. SwisterTwister   talk  05:34, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in reliable sources.  The article notes: "In Wes Freed's world, possums drink moonshine by the gallon. ... For years, the Richmond artist left his mark on album covers, concert posters and gallery walls. Tomorrow, Freed's artwork debuts on a different kind of canvas: Dave Blaney's No. 07 Chevrolet in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. It might be hard to spot going a hundred miles an hour at the Richmond International Raceway, but Blaney's Monte Carlo will feature Freed's art for the band Drive-By Truckers. The logo (along with decals for team sponsor Jack Daniel's) is featured on the hood, the trunk and both side panels.  Besides his visual art, Freed is probably best known for his now-defunct bands Mudd Helmet, Dirtball and The Shiners. (You also may recognize Freed from his TV commercials for Chesterfield Auto Parts. He's one of the slow-talking junkyard layabouts who encourage you to 'bring a buck and a toolbox.')  How did the big man in overalls go from singing 'Hillbilly Soul' at Alley Katz to doodling on a multimillion-dollar stock car? 'It was just one of those times when all the stars aligned,' said the artist's wife, Jyl." The article further notes: "From then on, every time the Truckers played Richmond, they stayed at the Freed house. Even as the group gained national and international fame, it found time to play gigs in Richmond. Before releasing their breakthrough album, 2002's 'Southern Rock Opera,' the Drive-By Truckers asked Freed to do the cover art. In addition to posters, T-shirts and stickers, he has provided the art for every album cover since."  The article notes: "Wes Freed’s art always had a gothic bent. In his youth, he said, “the paintings that I loved looking at were Bosch and Goya. I loved Edward Gorey. They don’t have a negative aspect to me. There’s kind of a peace and quietude to things that others might think of as unnerving.” On the other hand, confronted with images of manicured homes and white picket fences, “I’d rather see an overgrown hayfield with a dead tree in it.” That sensibility landed him a permanent gig as cover artist for enduring alternative Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, starting with their much-praised 2001 concept album “Southern Rock Opera.” “Obviously I love it,” the 51-year-old Richmond artist said of his partnership with the Athens, Georgia, rockers. “It’s made it possible for this to be what I do as my day job as opposed to painting houses.” Freed’s first solo gallery show opened July 17 at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, showcasing whimsical, eerie and bawdy paintings he created for rock posters and rock albums, many for Drive-By Truckers, who will perform 6 p.m. Saturday at FloydFest."  The article notes: "But no band/artist relationship is tighter than the Drive-By Truckers and Wes Freed. Freed's paintings and drawings of almond-eyed southern vixens, gimme cap wearing rednecks, devils, weird pastoral scenes, and those creepy long-necked black birds have graced the majority of the Truckers album covers, as well as inside booklets, posters, and merchandise. Truckers co-founder/singer/guitarist Patterson Hood feels that Freed's best work is the cover of their most recent effort, last year's English Oceans. And it wasn't even a band original. It was a commissioned painting that Freed did for Barr Weissman (who did a documentary on the band, 2009's The Secret to a Happy Ending) of his three daughters. Hood also recalls that Freed has had some pretty strong opinions on previous records. 'When we were doing what would become Brighter Than Creation's Dark, I gave Wes three different titles we were debating on. And he told me, 'I don't care what you call the record, but I'm doing the cover for Brighter Than Creation's Dark!'' Soon, a lot more people might also see Freed's work at merch tables in large arenas. For while the upcoming DBT show in Houston is a club gig, it's one of several scheduled during a much larger tour which has the Truckers opening for country superstar Eric Church in huge arenas."  The article notes: "Over the years, the identity carved out by the band’s sound and songs has been illustrated, literally, by artist Wes Freed. The Richmond, Virginia-based artist has done the cover art for every DBT album since Southern Rock Opera, not to mention countless posters, t-shirts, stickers and stage sets. His distinctive style has become synonymous with DBT. Though formally trained as an artist, Freed’s work veers in the direction of folk art and outsider art, giving it a ragged-but-right quality that matches the spirit of the band. Freed knew the Drive-By Truckers in the Alabama Ass Whuppin’ days, but it’s one of the few albums to which he didn’t contribute. That’s remedied by this year’s reissue, which gets a new cover from Freed, a savvy move that further cements this early gem as a part of the DBT’s cohesive identity and musical legacy. On the occasion of the reissue, Southern Glossary called Freed at his Virginia home to talk about his work and his relationship with DBT. Freed’s accent is thick and his voice is gruff, but he was friendly and generous with his time. Our conversation was punctuated with long pauses and the occasional whining of a hound dog in the background as the artist reflected on how he got where he is today."</li> <li> The article notes: "Wes Freed Artist, musician, hell – an actor, even. There’s nothing that Wes Freed has done or created that hasn’t been just exactly true to Wes Freed. If you want to experience some of the music the Virginia native has made over the years, hunt up albums by Mudd Helmet, Dirt Ball, and The Shiners – or catch a gig by his current gig, the Mad Bats. ... The path to Freed’s world extends waaayyy back to the Shenandoah Valley of his childhood, detours through the halls of Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University, and runs deep into the shadows of Crow Holler, where whiskered, drunken, red-eyed skeletons beat the dog snot out of resonator guitars and buxom white-skinned zombie gals slip you one of those looks. That’s Wes Freed’s world – where the cars that sit alongside Willard’s Garage are old, big, and faster than hell; the music’s loud; and lonely’s even louder. And that’s where the art that represents the Drive-By Truckers to the outside world comes from. Freed and his wife Jyl live in Richmond, VA in a house chock full of his art which they share with their dogs, cats, a white squirrel named Skully, the occasional possum or two, and “a constant parade of foster babies” from the local SPCA."</li> <li> The article notes: "Drive-By Truckers' go-to album-cover artist, Wes Freed (who used to play in a little-known but badass rock band called The Shiners, created this Southern Gothic masterpiece to go with DBT's gritty, punked-out and depraved roots-rock sound, and the feel is creepy-perfect. With an impressive body of work under his belt, Freed is fast becoming a Southern Ralph Steadman."</li> <li> The article notes: "Jim Stramel's feature film The Thrillbillys is unabashed, unashamed trash - but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. Quite the contrary. It's consistently entertaining and amusing, and it keeps its mind in the gutter from beginning to end. The film is a salute to the B-movie drive-in classics of yesteryear (i.e. Macon County Line, Walking Tall, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry) that depicted the rough-and-tumble, dog-eat-dog world of bank robbers, moonshiners and assorted lowlifes - before Burt Reynolds and Smokey and the Bandit (1977) put a warmer and fuzzier spin on those kinds of movies. There's nothing warm or fuzzy about Dodger Cole (Erin Snyder), a taciturn ex-con who's so tough that she is usually referred to in masculine terms. Having recently been paroled from prison, Dodger returns home to visit her addle-brained but lovable brother (Wes Freed). Not long after, a parcel of land behind their backwoods home is razed to make way for a convenience store, but no one stumbled across Grandma Cole's hidden moonshine still until it blew up." This is a passing mention that I'm not using to establish notability, but the article can be used to verify Wes Freed's acting in The Thrillbillys.</li> <li> The article notes: "One of those early local supporters was Wes Freed, who handles the album artwork that has become so closely identified with the band. During the period when Wes and his wife Jyl were involved with the Capital City Barn Dance, they invited the Truckers to play. The connection proved rewarding for all. Upon entering the Freeds' home, Hood was hooked. 'It was floor-to-ceiling filled with Wes's artwork,' he said. 'It has a very distinctive style and look. We were already writing 'Southern Rock Opera' by then. When we walked in the door [fellow frontman Mike] Cooley and I kind of immediately looked at each other and were just like, 'Wes has to illustrate 'Southern Rock Opera.'"</li> <li> The article notes: "The last three Truckers' CD covers have been drawn by artist Wes Freed. Working in various mediums, Freed also produces the comic book 'Willard's Garage' and paints CD covers for other artists. With something of van Gogh's swirling brushwork and color sensibility, Freed's drawings are peopled by Dixie-fried witches, classic cars, otherworldly birds and haunts of every sort. 'I love working with the Truckers. They're easy to work with,' Freed said when asked about the collaboration. 'They give me just enough direction and just enough freedom, and Lilla Hood (Patterson's sister and album art director alongside Chuck Hermes) brings everything together in a cohesive and artful way. I'm very lucky to be able to work for and with DBT and Lilla, because they are all very respectful of how I want the art presented ...'"</li> <li> The article notes: "'A No. 10 single on the hot new country charts is not part of our plan,' says Wes Freed, co-lead singer with wife Jyl."</li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Wes Freed to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 19:22, 24 January 2016 (UTC) </li></ul>


 * Keep – The subject comfortably passes WP:BASIC per the sources presented above by Cunard. North America1000 01:39, 25 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep - Not sure it passes WP:GNG (some of the sources put forth by Cunard are blogs), but I agree there is enough to pass WP:BASIC.  Onel 5969  <i style="color:blue">TT me</i> 13:20, 25 January 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.