Country Songwriter Abe Stoklasa Dead at 38

Country songwriter Abe Stoklasa — known for co-writing sings for artists such as Tim McGraw and Lady A — has died. He was 38 years old. Billboard confirmed the sad news and noted that Stoklasa died of undisclosed causes on Nov. 17.

Stoklasa was born in Princeton, Missouri, and discovered his love of music at an early age, thanks to his father. “I have always been a musician,” he previously told The Shotgun Seat. “My dad had a little ransom style show in the midwest — we did like 70 shows a year — so from two years old I was singing on the stage. At like six years old my dad threw me in the band as the keyboard player, sink or swim. So that’s how I learned to play music.”

As a teenager, Stoklasa’s family moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He would go on to attend Belmont University and, after graduation, he played with artists such as David Nail and Billy Currington. He eventually chose to leave the touring life for songwriting and found a lot of success. Stoklasa was a writer on Chris Lane’s 2016 hit song “Fix,” and helped wrote songs that were recorded by aforementioned artists McGraw (“Portland, Maine”), Nail (“Lie With Me”), Currington (“Give It To Me Straight”), and Lady A (“Ocean”). He also wrote tunes for Charlie Worsham (“Call You Up,” “The Beginning of Things”), Scotty McCreery (“Here and Ready”), and Blake Shelton (“A Girl”).

Over on Instagram, Lady A’s Charles Kelly shared a photo of Stoklasa and wrote a heartfelt memorial. “Abe was otherworldly,” Kelly penned. “I always knew his mind moved at a pace I could never comprehend. He was confidence and self doubt all wrapped in one. He frustrated me and inspired me all at the same time. He was a true enigma in every sense of the word, but aren’t the most talented musicians and artists that way? He was a musician’s musician and carried one of the most authentic voices in this town.”

Kelly added, “I’ll never listen to the songs we shared together the same or forget the moments we had onstage and on the late night bus rides. Nashville will never see another Abe Stoklasa. I’ll miss you my soft spoken friend.” He concluded his memorial with lyrics from a David Cohen song, an artist whom he shared a fondness of with Stoklasa: “One day / There’s love for the lonely / One day / They walk in the sun / One day / Rest for the weary / Rest for the weary ones.”