David Allan Coe, Outlaw Country Figure, Dies at 86
David Allan Coe, author of 'Take This Job and Shove It,' died Wednesday at 86; career mixed notable hits with controversial underground albums and tax troubles.
Overview
David Allan Coe died Wednesday at age 86, his representative David Wade and his wife Kimberly Hastings Coe confirmed.
Coe wrote "Take This Job and Shove It" and had hits including "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" and "You Never Even Called Me by My Name."
His wife called him one of the best singers and songwriters of our time, and his manager David Wade called him a complicated man and a great songwriter, singer and showman.
In 2016 he was ordered to pay roughly $980,000 to $1,000,000 and was sentenced to three years' probation, and court records say he earned income from at least 100 concerts yearly from 2008 through 2013.
No cause of death has been disclosed, and his wife said he had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in September 2021 and made few appearances since then.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame Coe as an influential outsider whose musical achievements are foregrounded while controversies are acknowledged. Language uses loaded descriptors ('raw, often obscene,' 'checkered'), early quotes from family and peers emphasize sympathy, and problematic albums, allegations and legal troubles are introduced later, creating a tempered, legacy-focused narrative.