David Allan Coe, the outlaw country singer-songwriter who penned “Take This Job and Shove It” and built a devoted following on the fringes of Nashville, died Wednesday. He was 86.
His wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed the death to Rolling Stone. A representative told People that Mr. Coe died at approximately 5 p.m. No cause of death was disclosed.
“My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years,” his wife wrote to Rolling Stone. “I’ll never forget him and I don’t want anyone else to ever forget him either.”
Mr. Coe was born Sept. 6, 1939, in Akron, Ohio. Deemed incorrigible by authorities, he was sent to reform school at age 9 and spent the following two decades cycling in and out of juvenile and adult correctional facilities. He served time in the Ohio State Penitentiary from 1963 to 1967 on charges including possession of burglary tools. After his release, he moved to Nashville, living for a time in a hearse parked outside Ryman Auditorium while he busked nearby and pursued a music career.
Though he never fully fit within Nashville’s mainstream, Mr. Coe became one of outlaw country’s most recognizable figures, known for a deep baritone, raw lyrical sensibility and a persona that blurred the line between biography and mythology. He signed with Columbia Records in 1974, releasing the album “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy” — a nickname he earned by performing in a rhinestone suit and mask.
His greatest commercial successes came through songs he wrote for others. Tanya Tucker took his “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)” to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1974. Johnny Paycheck scored an even bigger hit with Mr. Coe’s “Take This Job and Shove It” in 1977, which later inspired a film in which Mr. Coe had a minor role. He was also the first country artist to record “Tennessee Whiskey,” a song that would later become a signature hit for Chris Stapleton.
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Among his own recordings, Mr. Coe charted with “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” written by Steve Goodman and an uncredited John Prine, along with “The Ride” and “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile.” He was featured in the outlaw country documentary “Heartworn Highways” and appeared in several films.
“I’d have never made it through prison without my music,” Mr. Coe said in a 1983 Associated Press interview. “No one could take it away from me. They could put me in the hole with nothing to do but I could still make up a song in my head.”
In 2016, Mr. Coe was ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 in restitution for obstructing the tax agency and sentenced to three years’ probation. Court records showed he had earned concert income from at least 100 performances per year between 2008 and 2013 but failed to file or pay taxes accordingly.
He released two explicit albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, “Nothing Sacred” and “Underground Album,” that were later criticized for racist, homophobic and sexually explicit content. Mr. Coe said he came to regret recording them.
His final album, released in 2006, was a collaboration with members of the heavy metal band Pantera recorded before guitarist Dimebag Darrell’s 2004 murder.
He is survived by his wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe; two sons, Tyler and Carson; and four daughters, Shelli, Carla, Tanya and Shyanne.
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