Remembering David Allan Coe: Outlaw country music singer dies at 86
David Allan Coe
By: Kevin Vickery On April 29th, after years of declining health, David Allan Coe (DAC) passed away at the age of 86 in an undisclosed hospital intensive care unit.
David Allan Coe
DAC recorded 42 studio albums and released 50 singles over his career spanning five decades. He is best known for his 1983 hit, “The Ride” written by John Blayne Detterline, Jr., Gary Gentry which tells the story of a drifting musician hitchhiker getting a ride to Nashville in a Cadillac driven by the ghost of Hank Williams and his popular, honky-tonk sing-a-long, from 1975, “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” which pokes fun at DAC being confused for other more popular country singers and was written by Steve Goodman and John Prine to include the last verse making it, “the perfect country and western song”. DAC also had hits with songs he wrote like, “If That Ain’t Country”, “Willie Waylon & Me”, “Jack Daniel’s If You Please”, and “Longhaired Redneck”.
David Allan Coe and Hank Williams He was also successful as an author of songs written for other artists such as, “Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone) made popular by Tanya Tucker and “Take This Job and Shove It” which was Johnny Paycheck’s most successful single, taking it to number one in 1978.
Tanya Tucker’s, “Would You Lay with Me in a Field of Stone” album cover
Johnny Paycheck’s, “Take This Job And Shove It” album cover DAC was also known for recording cover songs made famous by his own favorite artists like Tammy Wynette, The Allman Brothers Band, Alabama, Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers, Porter Wagner, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kid Rock and many others. He even released entire albums of cover songs by Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams.
David Allan Coe tribute album covers
He was a longtime friend and frequent collaborator with Uncle Kracker and his last record, “Rebel Meets Rebel”released in 2006, was a collaboration with Dimebag Darrell and other former members of the heavy metal group Pantera.
David Allan Coe and Uncle Cracker
“Rebel Meets Rebel” album cover
David Allan Coe with Pantera’s “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and Vinnie Paul Outlaw country music is a subgenre born from the “outlaw movement” in the 1970s, which also included the works of artists like Willie Nelson and the late Waylon Jennings, that focuses on tales of outrunning the law and raw, authentic living. David Allan Coe embraced the outlaw country music movement and culture perhaps more than any other artist.
David Allan Coe and Willie Nelson
David Allan Coe and Waylon Jennings
Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Waylon Jennings, and David Allan Coe Born in Akron, Ohio, DAC spent time in reformatories in his younger years, and served time in an Ohio prison from 1963 to 1967 for crimes like grand theft auto and possession of burglary tools. He has said he spent time with the Outlaws motorcycle club and has also claimed to have killed an inmate in 1963 with a mop bucket, but some of the tales about his prison time and his personal life have been wildly exaggerated over the years.
David Allan Coe He recorded his first album, “Penitentiary Blues,” using songs that he wrote in prison. He later told reporters that his criminal history was all people seemed interested in focusing on and said in a 1983 AP interview, “I’d have never made it through prison without my music. – No one could take it away from me. They could put me in the hole with nothing to do, but I could still make up a song in my head.” With his long hair and heavily tattooed look, Coe’s music was welcomed by the biker community. His two self-released R-rated albums, 1978′s “Nothing Sacred” and 1982′s “Underground Album,” were sold exclusively at his shows and via biker magazines. The songs on these albums have been criticized for being racist, homophobic and sexually explicit which was obviously considered inappropriate for radio play due to the profane nature of the lyrics. Coe had long defended the racist lyrics as parodies and jokes.
David Allan Coe
David Allan Coe’s, “Nothing Sacred” and “Underground Album” covers He told “Billboard” magazine in 2001 that author and songwriter Shel Silverstein persuaded him to record these songs he had written, something he had come to regret and said, “Those were meant to be sung around the campfire for bikers, and I still don’t sing those songs in concert.”
David Allan Coe, “Rides Again” album cover DAC was considered to be wildly eccentric throughout his life. He drove a hearse and often wore a Lone Ranger mask and rhinestone suits on stage, earning him the nickname, “The Rhinestone Cowboy”. His lyrics have spurred much controversy, gaining him the title of the “outlaw’s outlaw”.
David Allan Coe Additionally, in 2016, Coe was ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 in restitution for obstructing the tax agency and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Court documents say Coe earned income from at least 100 concerts yearly from 2008 through 2013 and either didn’t file individual income tax returns or pay taxes when he did file. Despite all that, I’ve enjoyed the music of DAC very much through the years and am saddened to say that he will now forever be on my list of artists I never got to see perform live.
David Allan Coe He is best summed up by this post from his official Facebook page announcing his death: “David Allan Coe was more than a singer, songwriter, and outlaw country legend, he was a voice for generations of fans who found truth, grit, pain, and life in his music. – His songs, stories, and spirit will live on forever. – Thank you to everyone who has loved, supported, and stood by him through the years. – Rest easy, David. Your ride here may be over, but your music will never die.”
David Allan Coe
For more information about David Allan Coe, you can find his Facebook page or visit his official website at, legendarydavidallancoe.com
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