Backroad Anthem Singer Craig Strickland Dead at 29
The body of Backroad Anthem lead singer Craig Strickland was found today, a week after the vocalist disappeared in a winter storm while duck hunting in Oklahoma. A native of Alma, Arkansas, Strickland was 29.
According to a post on the Ponca City News’ Facebook, the Kay County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Strickland’s body was located this morning.
Backroad Anthem, a popular Fayetteville, Arkansas-based touring band, posted on Facebook on December 28th that Strickland’s father had notified them that he’d had no contact with his son in more than 24 hours. Strickland and friend Chase Morland had left in the early hours of December 27th to go hunting and apparently ran afoul of Winter Storm Goliath, which brought snow, ice and damaging wind to Texas, Oklahoma and the Midwest. Morland’s body was found December 28th.
Just before he and Strickland left for their hunting destination, Morland sent out an eerily prescient tweet regarding the foreboding weather. “In case we don’t come back,” he wrote, “[we] are going right through Winter Storm Goliath to kill ducks in Oklahoma. #IntoTheStorm.” The boat Strickland and Morland had been using was found capsized; Strickland’s hunting dog was later found alive.
Backroad Anthem originally formed in 2012 when Strickland joined forces with church acquaintances Toby Freeman, Eric Dysart, Josh Bryant, Brandon Robold and Isaac Sentry. They quickly established themselves in the south and opened shows for artists like Dustin Lynch and Eli Young Band, among others. The group recently released the EP Torn and was set to perform on New Year’s Eve in Little Rock.