Updated April 30, 2026, 12:07 p.m. ET
David Allan Coe, a country singer and songwriter known for his outlaw music in the 1970s and 80s, has died. He was 86.
A representative for Coe confirmed the news to USA TODAY April 30.
Coe was a prominent figure in the outlaw country music scene and was known for songs like “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” “The Ride,” “Longhaired Redneck” and others.
He also wrote songs for other artists, including the hits “Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)” by Tanya Tucker and “Take This Job and Shove It” by Johnny Paycheck.
Notably, Coe was the first artist to record “Tennessee Whiskey,” the song written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove that is widely popularized today from a cover sung by Chris Stapleton.
Remembering David Allan Coe
A native of Akron, Ohio, Coe’s childhood was plagued by time in and out of youth correctional facilities, according to his website.
After entering reform school at the age of 9, Coe spent most of the next 20 years of his life in and out of prisons for charges ranging from armed robbery to auto theft, according to a 2005 Rolling Stone article.
After Coe was released from prison in 1967, he released his debut album, a blues record, “Penitentiary Blues” in 1969. With a push from blues singer B.B. King, Coe then transitioned into country music, he told Rolling Stone.
“B.B. said, ‘You’re a great blues singer, but, man, you gonna starve to death. Nobody wants to hear a white boy sing the blues,'” Coe told the outlet.
Some of Coe’s work has been criticized for being racist.
In 2000, The New York Times called two of his early underground albums “among the most racist, misogynist, homophobic and obscene songs recorded by a popular songwriter.”
Coe long denied the allegations of racism. He told The Rolling Stone in 2005 that he wrote the controversial songs while in prison, where racist slurs “didn’t mean nothin’.”
After his rise in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, Coe continued to release music into the 1990s and early 2000s. He released more than 40 studio albums throughout his career.
In 2015, Coe pleaded guilty to one count of impeding and obstructing the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution, WCPO reported.
This story has been updated to add new information.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.
