David Allan Coe Albums (41)
What The Critics Say
David Allan Coe's debut album, released in 1969 shortly after his release from prison, is in its way a wonder. Penitentiary Blues is far more a blues album than it is a country record, musically styled after the dark, loungy blues of Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis in his Mercury period as well as the rawer mercurial blues of Bo Diddley, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Tony Joe White. The subject matter is far darker and foreshadows the subjects and themes of Coe's later country records. The title cut mentions everything from working for the first time to taking blood tests in his heroin veins. "Cell 33" is a wide-open rocking shuffle with Jerry Lee Lewis piano coming out of the backdrop of a muddy mix and playing solo after choogling guitar riff over lines like: "They'll find me hangin' here tomorrow/If they don't come with the key." Musically, Coe was wrapped in the blues, particularly the barroom tradition. At the time, his band was clearly not capable of handling the more sophisticated honky tonk songs he would be writing shortly thereafter, some appearing on his next recording, Requiem for a Harlequin. This is redneck music, pure and simple, fresh out of hell and trying to communicate the giddiness of reprieve as well as its horrors to the listener. There's an obsession with hoodoo imagery and death, with self-loathing and boasting, and the contradictions in a man who doesn't want to go back to prison but who seems resigned to the fact he will because he's been inside so long (for Coe it was almost 20 years), he has no idea how to live on the outside. There are hints and traces of the lyrical genius Coe would display later, but taken as a whole, Penitentiary is thoroughly enjoyable as a rowdy, funky, and crude blues record full of out-of-tune guitars, slippery performances, and an attitude of "f*%$ it, let's get it done and get it out," which was a trademark of Plantation Records during the era. Penitentiary Blues is a set of voodoo blues from a future country legend and pariah. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Unchained/Son of the South: Plus'
Release Date 11/7/2005
Tracks 25
Label Bear Family
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'Live at Billy Bob's Texas'
Release Date 4/8/2003
Tracks 20
Label Image
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What The Critics Say
Say whatever the hell you want about David Allan Coe, but he's one of a kind as a singer, songwriter, and performer. In his early sixties, Coe hasn't slowed a bit and is experiencing another of his periodic renaissances as an artist and live act. Live at Billy Bob's Texas is R-rated Coe -- unlike the "Mature Audiences Only" tag on Live at the Iron Horse -- and the performance is tight, full-on badass country-rock with a band that rivals any but the Allman Brothers (including his pal Kid Rock's). Who knows how long this show really was, as most of the audience monologues have been omitted, but who gives a damn when it's as fine as this? There are 20 tracks here, from virtually every period in his career, performed with white-hot intensity, grease, profanity, and a burning, brokenhearted passion. The set kicks off with the gorgeous "Ain't That the Way (Love's Supposed to Be)," with Kim Hastings on duet and backup vocals, one of Coe's more poignant and edifying love songs, and shifts into medium gear on "Talkin' to the Blues" before kicking into full-rock ass-kicking glory with "Son of the South" and "'59 Cadillac, '57 Chevy." Both tracks are complete with screaming leads by Terry Fox and popping, cut-time basslines by Steven Bishop. Coe's son Tyler plays a very solid rhythm guitar and acts as bandleader. The pace varies and moves between thunderous, redneck-biker country-rock and the honky tonk tunes with beautiful acoustic ballads like "Heaven Only Knows" tossed in. The entire show is seamless in its quality, but some moments, such as the Hastings/Coe duet on the Jessi Colter classic "Storms Never Last," are so moving they ask more questions than they answer. For those concerned, the "hits" are here -- "Take This Job and Shove It," "Drank My Wife Away," and updated versions of "Longhaired Redneck," "If That Country," and "The Ride" -- and they are played with more inspiration than they ought to be given how often they've been performed, even with the new twists and turns (like a faux-hardcore ending on the otherwise straight honky tonk of "Take This Job and Shove It"). But it's on the dirty funk of "Free My Mind" with its attempt at hip-hop that Coe is really in his element. He likes to mess with the form of country music with excessive word-mongering and boasting, such as: "You know I don't shoot dope but I might shoot my gun/I don't like acid rock but I might be trippin'." Immediately after, he slides into a stunning cover of "Follow Me," where sweet Saturday-night country music meets Jimmy Buffett's Volcano-era rhythm section. The album closes with the Steve Goodman/John Prine classic "You Never Even Called Me by My Name," that Coe has made his signature tune. Rather than the slow, forlorn version on his own recordings, this version is pure Jerry Jeff Walker honky tonk -- who may have gotten his honky tonk style from Coe in the first place. Hastings adds so much to Coe's still-excellent baritone that the crowd is swept up in the raw country swing of the tune, until he adds a hip-hop coda and they all laugh like hell -- you will, too. Coe hasn't gone anywhere; he's still crazy, vulgar, literate, passionate, and simultaneously awesome and frightening. Just get it. [The CD was also released with a bonus DVD of the show.] ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This is a double-CD audio book that David Allan Coe, the king of country outlaws, recorded in 1997. This picks up where Coe's autobiography left off. And this is the no-holds-barred story of Coe's life from the late '70s up until that time. All the stories are here, the tales of abuses, fame, power, wife beating, being beaten, broken marriages, children reared and responsibility, struggles with the IRS, lawsuits, ripoffs inside and outside the music biz, betrayals, family alcoholism, bad craziness, poor business and relationship decisions, and most of all, acceptance of personal flaws, mistakes, and accomplishments. According to Coe, "Right is right and wrong is wrong, but you have to stand for somethin' or you'll fall for anything." Coe comes off not as a complainer, not as a boaster, not as the outlaw braggart who was sometimes the Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy and sometimes David Allan Coe in concert, but as a man who has done virtually everything and lived to tell about it, who is grateful for what he has, and is bemused by the things stolen from him, whether they be money, songs, women, reputation, etc. But Coe never comes off as bitter, hateful, or even angry. He is as bewildered by some of the turns his life has taken as those who have followed his career are, and he goes to great pains to clear up some misconceptions -- perhaps not only for listeners' sake. There is great darkness on Whoopsy Daisy, sometimes unremittingly so, but the candor one has become accustomed to is also the hope and redemption, not of the man and his story, but for humanity itself. In an era when sleight of hand and image consciousness are paramount to living the life of an "artist," Coe reveals that the life of a real artist is one of honesty, vision, and integrity -- even if displaying that integrity is to reveal your shortcomings, flaws, and dumb mistakes. In this way, Whoopsy Daisy is also a recording of great hope and promise -- it provides an example without intending to, which is an example of the best kind. If there is any complaint about Whoopsy Daisy, it is that it is not a three-CD set so that listeners can hear about the man from 1997 to the present. Listening to him talk of his life and history is a deeply moving and revelatory experience, one full of paradox, beauty, and tragedy, all the things that make us human. Hurry up and record the latest chapter, Mr. Coe; if there were ever a time when we needed to hear somebody tell the truth, it's the present one. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Songwriter of the Tear'
Release Date 3/20/2001
Tracks 13
Label Cleveland Int'l
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'Long Haired Country Boy'
Release Date 8/29/2000
Tracks 10
Label King
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