David Allan Coe was born in Akron, Ohio in 1939, and spent much of his early life in reform schools and correctional facilities. After concluding a prison stint in 1967, he moved to Nashville to pursue a music career, busking outside the Ryman Auditorium (where the Grand Ole Opry was then located) and sleeping in a hearse that he parked on the street outside the venue. He signed to Plantation Records, putting out his first two albums -- 'Penitentiary Blues' and 'Requiem for a Harlem' -- on the label before moving to Columbia Records, where he remained for much of the '70s and '80s. Among his biggest hits are "Longhaired Redneck," "She Used to Love Me a Lot" and "You Never Even Called Me by My Name," the latter of which was written by Steve Goodman and John Prine. Coe also wrote "Take This Job and Shove It," which was popularized by Johnny Paycheck. Coe's alternative lifestyle and outlaw style and both earned him a cult following and alienated him from the music industry's mainstream.
David Allan Coe
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David Allan Coe Charged With Income Tax Evasion, Pleads Guilty
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