Walking the Floor: Coe is an Outlaw Among Outlaws

There have been outlaws in country music, but there’s one who stands tall above them all. There are a lot of artists whose music, legacy, and artistry will never be repeated - performers such as Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, and Keith Whitley. There are current artists we may never see the likes of again - such as Garth Brooks, Darius Rucker, Florida Georgia Line, and Luke Bryan. These artists, in one way or another, changed country music forever.  
 
But there is one guy who kicked down doors, figuratively and literally, for country music and there will never be another like him. He is David Allan Coe.  

An outlaw from the beginning, Coe was sent to the Starr Commonwealth for Boys reform school when he was 9 years old. He then spent the better part of the next 20 years in and out of correctional facilities - including a three-year stint at the Ohio State Penitentiary.  

David Allan Coe told the story for many years that he spent time on death row for killing a man in prison. That story was put to rest when a Texas documentarian discovered Coe had done time for possessing burglary tools and indecent materials – but never murder. 

He also claimed to be a member of both the Hells Angels and Outlaws motorcycle clubs, to have 365 tattoos, and bragged about being a Mormon priest who practiced polygamy and had with nine wives at one time. While these outlaw tales did little to open doors in Nashville, he continued with his outlaw attitude leading to his dark-and-bluesy first album – “Penitentiary Blues” – in 1970. He followed the release by touring with the rock band Grand Funk Railroad. Not very Nashville.  

In the early 1970s, he knocked around Nashville building a reputation of being a little on the edge. Still, his songwriting started drawing attention. There was Billie Jo Spears’ recording of “Souvenirs & California Memories” which only peaked at 68 on the charts. Then Tanya Tucker’s No. 1 with “Would You Lay with Me (In A Field of Stone)” ultimately got Coe signed by Columbia Records.  

His debut album with Columbia was called “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy” and was released in 1974 with no real radio success. Still, to me, Coe’s greatest song, and one of the saddest love songs ever, was on this album - “A Sad Country Song.” Rolling Stone ranked this album No. 40 on its “50 Country Albums Every Rock Fan Should Own” list. 

Just one year later, he released his second major label album, “Once Upon a Rhyme,” which featured his signature hit - “You Never Even Called Me by My Name”- which peaked at No. 8 on the charts. Coe’s highest charting song was “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile,” which peaked at No. 2 in 1984.  

Coe never recorded a No. 1 of his own, but so many of his songs still stand as country classics, with his songwriting bringing him his most significant successes. These include:  

Tanya Tucker - “Would You Lay with Me (In A Field of Stone)” 

Johnny Paycheck - “Take This Job and Shove it” 

Tanya Tucker - “Greener Than the Grass We Laid On” 

Kid Rock - “Single Father” 

 
So, while Waylon, Willie, Merle, and Johnny Cash had more success when it came to the “Outlaw Movement,” it could be argued that David Allan Coe was the true, and original, Outlaw.