If you listened to Sturgill Simpsonâs 2014 breakout album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, the first voice you heard on the album was Sturgillâs grandfather, Lawrence âDoodâ Fraley, who said âIntroducing Metamodern Sounds in Country Musicâ before the first track, âTurtles All the Way Down.â
Sturgill announced on Facebook yesterday (March 15) that Dood had passed away earlier in the morning.
In addition to writing a heartfelt post about Dood (see below), Sturgill included a link to the song âHero,â a track that Sturgill wrote and recorded on his 2013 album, High Top Mountain.
âI am extremely sad to say that my Grandfather, Lawrence âDoodâ Fraley (the voice at the beginning of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music) passed away peacefully early this morning. He was without a single doubt the greatest man and finest human being I will ever know in my time here on this Earth and there will never, ever be another like him.
âThere were times in my younger life when I was not a good manâŠwhen I didnât always make the right choicesâŠand looking back I can honestly say that the only thing that kept me from jumping headfirst off the proverbial cliff of life was knowing how much I would have let him down. And thatâs the truth.
âMy Papaw taught me to play Country Music and more importantly, he taught me to love Country Music. Above all else that has happened in my life and career in the last four years, nothing comes close to knowing that he lived long enough to see it as he could not have been more proud.
âGoodbye old manâŠ
âYou will be forever missed by all who knew you.â