Controversial outlaw country music star David Allan Coe dies aged 86

The singer-songer scored his biggest hits in the 1980s with songs like The Ride and Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile, but was heavily criticised for using racial slurs in his music and for his habit of displaying the Confederate flag.

Coe died at 5.08pm local time on Wednesday, his representative confirmed to People Magazine , adding: ‘David was a country music treasure and loved his fans.

‘Most importantly, he was a true outlaw and a great singer, songwriter, and performer.’

No cause of death has not yet been confirmed, although Page Six reported that Coe was in an intensive care unit after ‘years of declining health ’.

The musician, who boasted a near 60-year career, was born in Akron, Ohio in 1939, spending much of his childhood and the next two decades of his life in reform school and then correctional facilities, where he developed his interest in music.

According to Coe, he served 22 years for crimes including armed robbery and car theft, while also claiming to have been on death row for killing another inmate.

After heading to Nashville in 1967 upon release, he busked on the street to support his career before releasing his first album in 1970, Penitentiary Blues.

In the 1970s he also wrote hit songs for others, including number one coutry singles Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone), which Tanya Tucker covered, and Take This Job and Shove It for Johnny Paycheck – which earned Coe a Grammy nomination.

You Never Even Called Me by My Name became Coe’s first successful single in 1975, taken off his third album, while Longhaired Redneck, one of his most enduring songs, followed the next year.

Speaking with Phoenix New Times in 1993 about the outlaw country musical genre, Coe said: ‘I was singing that stuff for years. I was living it for years.

‘ Willie [Nelson] , Waylon [Jennings] – they just got more famous. I was the original outlaw.’

Outlaw country is a subgenre that rebelled against the mainstream ‘Nashville sound’ with more rock influences, a grittier sound and introspective lyrics.

Coe used slurs and racist stereotypes in songs he wrote throughout his career but, most notably, on two underground albums he released ‘very small quantities of’ which featured hate speech.

The New York Times went on to characterise them in 2000 as ‘among the most racist, misogynist, homophobic and obscene songs recorded by a popular songwriter.’

One song disparaged Black men who date white women, while another was titled I Made Linda Lovelace Gag.

After years of them being bootlegged, Coe went on to sell the songs on his website that same year, although without his name on, the paper reported.

Coe denied he was a racist and insisted the songs had been mischaracterised by the publication, telling Country Standard Time that the NYT hadn’t given him a proper chance to respond.

He also said that, off-the-record, he had told the outlet ‘they couldn’t call me a racist or white supremacist because that wasn’t true.’

The singer-songwriter added: ‘I’ve got a Black drummer who’s married to a white chick. I’ve got Leon Spinks’ pictures all over my bus, pictures he took with my family. My hair’s in dreadlocks. I’m the farthest thing from a white supremacist that anybody could ever be.

Coe released over 40 studio albums in total and was married six times.

After pleading guilty to obstructing the IRS from collecting taxes he was ordered to pay nearly $1million (£742k) in 2016, per the Associated Press .

He had reportedly dealt with health issues in recent years, including knee replacement surgery and being hospitalised with Covid in 2021.

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He is survived by his sixth wife, Kimberly Hastings, whom he married in 2010, and five children: Tyler, Tanya, Shyanne, Carson and Shelli.

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