The man who wrote the blue-collar anthem “Take This Job and Shove It” has taken his final bow. David Allan Coe dies at 86, leaving behind a catalog that defined the raw, rebellious edge of 1970s country music.
The singer-songwriter passed away around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, in an intensive care unit. His wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed the news, calling him “one of the best singers, songwriters, and performers of our time.” A cause of death has not been disclosed.
Coe was never Nashville’s polished poster child. He was the outsider who wrote his first songs in an Ohio prison cell, where he served time from 1963 to 1967 for possession of burglary tools. “I’d have never made it through prison without my music,” he once said. That grit became his signature.
As an outlaw country legend, he wrote hits for others before claiming his own spotlight. “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone)” became a smash for Tanya Tucker in 1974. Johnny Paycheck turned “Take This Job and Shove It” into a working-class rallying cry in 1977. Coe was also the first artist to record “Tennessee Whiskey,” a song that would later become a modern standard for Chris Stapleton.
His own hits painted the journey of a longhaired redneck who’d seen it all. “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “The Ride” remain outlaw country touchstones.
In recent years, Coe faced declining health, including a 2021 hospitalization for COVID-19. His later life also included legal battles, with a 2016 tax evasion case resulting in nearly $1 million in restitution and three years’ probation.
Yet for his devoted following, which spanned bikers and bankers alike, Coe was always the rhinestone cowboy who refused to play by anyone’s rules. His final record arrived in 2006, a collaboration with former members of the heavy metal band Pantera.
The music never stopped. Neither did the man. David Allan Coe was 86.
