David Allen Coe is a retired member of The Outlaws motorcycle club he was with the Outlaws MC chapter
in Louisville Kentucky but was also well known for riding with the Outlaws in Florida Cole's
path the country music stardom was difficult born on September 6 1939 in Akron Ohio he came from a
broken home because of his early anti-social attitude he was sent to a reformed School in
Michigan when he was nine years old Cole spent most of his youth in several similar facilities
every time he was released he managed to do something to get incarcerated again his early
crimes included possession of burglary tools and car theft eventually at the age of 20 Cole began
a series of prison terms in the Ohio State Penitentiary during one of these he killed
a fellow inmate who made a homosexual Advance towards him despite a possible self-defense
motive in the incident Cole was sentenced to death while on death row he was reunited with his foster
father who had also been convicted of murder Cole had found the time during his various prison terms
to learn to play the guitar and he and his foster father occupied themselves by writing
songs before their sentences could be carried out Ohio repealed the death penalty and Cole's
term was commuted to life thus reprieved he began to take an even greater interest in his music and
was allowed to perform for his fellow inmates this constructive activity made the parole board look
favorably upon coe and a freedom in 1967 he headed straight for Nashville Tennessee he slept in his
old car and sang and played for food Cole tried to sell the songs he had written in prison his lyrics
reflected his experiences and were often seen as two raw and harshly realistic for country music
even so he was soon signed to the small SSS label and released his debut album The aptly titled
pennant Century Blues it was not a popular success but it received favorable notice for Many Music
critics two singles from Penitentiary Blues got a fair amount of AirPlay Tobacco Road and two-tone
Brown coe switched to the plantation label during the early 1970s recording a spoof called how high
is the Watergate Martha and a minor hit keep those big wheels running but he received his
first major attention when other artists began recording his compositions many famous country
singers had gradually began adding cold songs to their albums or performing them in concerts
when his would you would lay with me in a field of stone was selected for one of Tanya Tucker's
albums the tune became a huge hit for the young Tucker in 1973 and major record companies noticed
its composer one such company was Columbia Records which asked Cole for some demo tapes
satisfied with what he provided Columbia signed them and co-released his first major album The
Mysterious rhymes Stone Cowboy quickly followed by the mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy Rides Again
ironically his first Smash Hit 1975's you've never been called me by my name was not one of his own
compositions but rather Steve Goodman's something of a novelty the song featured Cole's imitations
of various famous country singers including Merle Haggard and Charlie Pride but it might
not have fared as well with fans without the last verse that co-atted apparently Goodman had told
him that you never was the perfect country song Co allegedly replied that Goodman had left out
several elements essential for making that claim getting drunk rain prison trains trucks and Mama
so cold through them all into a final verse which described being drunk while driving his
pickup truck through the rain to get his mother who had just gotten out of prison unfortunately
he arrives to find out that she has just been run over by a train Cole's follow-up hit was a 1976
long-haired redneck which satirized the trials of a performer whose image does not fit the public
expectation of what a country singer should be though he released other singles during the late
1970s such as Willy Whalen and me and if this is just the game perhaps one of the greatest triumphs
is when Johnny Paycheck recorded his composition Take This Job and Shove It the tool struck a chord
with many fans and received the Grammy nomination for best country and western song of 1978 during
the mid to late 1980s when critics considered many of country music's Outlaws to be an artistic
decline Cole continued to make meaningful Music Son of the South holds 1986 album prompted Nash
to exclaim it's startling just how good Cole can be when he cools his King of the weirdos act and
gets down to the business of music she went on to praise the songs love is a never-ending war in
cold turkey but Co appears to return to his usual eccentricity cities with the following years a
matter of life and death the album cover featured a photograph of his dead father in his coffin
wearing a shirt advertising one of his son's concert tours nevertheless Nash was pleased with
this album too citing especially the song child of God as he had before Cole dug into the fabric
of his own life paying tribute to his late father Donald Mayhem Coe Cole may have had some hits but
his records like this that made one wonder if there wasn't a conspiracy to marginalize him
and make him fail Cole would ride his motorcycle everywhere around the country even would ride up
to the stage and just perform straight jumping off the bike he did it one time when Waylon Jennings
was singing and then he started singing with him and then Willie Nelson also came out to join them
a trouble pass the Outlaw Biker lifestyle and an outlaw Legend David Allan Coe don't forget
to follow the sose the ghost Channel and get your ghostaveli masks now they're on www.demonsrow.com
[Music]