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Twisted Tales: David Allan Coe Takes the Outlaw Country Lifestyle to the Extreme

David Allan CoeLife for David Allan Coe is one big country cliché. It can't be a perfect country song, he declares on his cover of Steve Goodman's 'You Never Even Called Me By My Name,' unless it references mamas, prison, trains and getting drunk.

He's the 'Longhaired Redneck' who took credit for outlaw country in 'Willie, Waylon and Me,' the ex-con who wrote the Johnny Paycheck smash 'Take This Job and Shove It.' He's had hits with ribald titles such as 'Divers Do It Deeper,' and he released two legendary underground albums packed with crude sexual and racial humor. If you're offended by him, well, he's got a song for you: 'I'd Like to Kick the S--- Out of You.'

David Allan Coe was born into trouble in 1939 in Akron, Ohio. By the age of 9 he was in reform school; he spent much of his twenties in prison. The Coe legend alleges that he landed on Death Row after killing a fellow inmate who made a sexual advance. Various accounts have claimed he served on Death Row alongside his foster father, that he taught Charles Manson to play guitar and that he once had Screamin' Jay Hawkins as a cellblock neighbor.

Whatever the truth of his prison life, when Coe got out in the late 1960s he was ready to use it to his advantage. After playing a short time in the Ohio-based country-rock group the Eli Radish Band, he recorded his first album, fittingly titled 'Penitentiary Blues.' Coe has said that B.B. King, with whom he toured, encouraged him to go full-on country: "Nobody wants to hear a white boy sing the blues."

Allegedly arriving in Nashville with one dime to his name, Coe began to find success as songwriter. His song 'Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)' became a No. 1 country hit for Tanya Tucker in 1974. By then, Coe was touring and recording as the Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, driving a hearse and wearing a Lone Ranger mask. His songs would be recorded by Johnny Cash, George Jones and Charlie Louvin; 'Take This Job and Shove It' was a big hit for Paycheck in 1977.

But Coe is most infamous for his self-released 1978 album 'Nothing Sacred' and its follow-up, 'Underground Album,' which included titles like 'Linda Lovelace,' 'Pick 'Em, Lick 'Em, Stick 'Em' and others far more flagrant. Over the years, he has repeatedly insisted that his songs featuring racial slurs do not prove he's a racist: His favorite boyhood singer was the late Johnny Ace, he says, and his band has included drummer Kerry Brown, son of the late bluesman Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown -- and Coe counted '50s R&B legend Hank Ballard as one of his best friends.

Coe's popularity among Southern rockers was confirmed when he recorded sessions with members of Pantera as the one-off band Rebel Meets Rebel. An album was released in 2006, two years after the murder of Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Like the rest of Coe's discography, the record features songs about cowboys and Indians, long highways and loose women. And 'If That Ain't Country,' as he once sang, "I'll kiss your ass."

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Marc

Just saw him perform in New Albany, IN on the banks of the Ohio River where he has many, many fans. At 74 years of age, his 1 hour concert was great and his voice was better than ever. His energetic band includes his oldest son on lead guitar. They ended the concert with tunes by the Allman Brothers Band. Thanks to the sponsors of the event and the Rustic Frog in New Albany for a great night of entertainment.

August 24 2011 at 11:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Pedro

Never heard of this guy just like any of other genre country has a slew of unknown or unappreciated artists. He sounds like the outlaw that always seem missing from the blues and country

January 17 2010 at 1:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Celeste

Gatemouth Brown does not have a son by the name of Joe; I am his daughter and his son's name is Dwyen in Oklahoma City.

January 16 2010 at 11:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Celeste's comment
Celeste

**I mean no son by the name of Kerry.

Thank you.

January 17 2010 at 9:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

I can't wait till he comes to brooklyn in june!!!

January 16 2010 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply