David Allan Coe Biography

David Allan Coe Biography

David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939 in Akron, Ohio) is an American country music singer who achieved his greatest popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career. As a songwriter, his best-known compositions are "Would You Lay with Me (in a Field of Stone)," originally recorded by Tanya Tucker, and "Take this Job and Shove It." The latter was a #1 hit for Johnny Paycheck, and it was later turned into a hit movie (both Coe and Paycheck had minor parts in the film). His long career has included twenty-six LPs, with 1987's Matter of Life... and Death being one of the most successful and critically acclaimed.  Coe was well know for humorous songs like "You Never Even Call Me By My Name", a Steve Goodman/John Prine composition that purports to be the "perfect country and western song," and includes references to himself in his songs to self-promote himself through his music. His preferred way of achieving such heights of self aggrandizing is by referencing big stars of country music in his lyrics in a way that makes himself their equal, such as in "Willie, Waylon, and Me," and on the line "Johnny Cash helped me get out of prison" in "Longhaired Redneck." He even put out a concept album, Compass Point, that threads his autobiography (or that of his persona) through an encounter with the famous Caribbean studio for which it was named and where it was recorded.

Coe has become one of the most enduring cult  figures and folk heroes in country music, however he is not without his detractors. Once a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Coe gained soem acclaim for his work singing lead vocals for Rebel Meets Rebel, a country-metal band consisting of Coe and Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, and Rex Brown from Pantera. The self-titled album was recorded between 1999 and 2001, but wasn't released until after Darrell's Death in 2004. The album took some people by surprise to see two musical extremes come together, but it should be noted that Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul shared a background with some country music ties. Coe recorded two albums in 1978 and 1982 containing racist and misogynistic lyrics of extreme vulgarity and racial crudity: "Nothing Sacred" and "Underground Album." Also available is a best of the X-rated albums compilation entitled "18 X-Rated Hits". Coe has defended the songs (such as one deriding a wife as a "Ni**er Fucker") as bawdy fun which never made him much money.