Singer-songwriter David Allan Coe, who wrote the working-class anthem “Take This Job and Shove It” and also had hits such as “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and “The Ride,” died Wednesday. He was 86.
The singer’s wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone in an email.
“One of the best singers, songwriters, and performers of our time (and) never to be forgotten,” she wrote. “My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years. I’ll never forget him and I don’t want anyone else to ever forget him either.”
No cause of death was given, according to the magazine.
A representative for the singer told People in a statement that Coe died at about 5:08 p.m. on Wednesday.
“David was a country music treasure and loved his fans,” the representative said. “Most importantly, he was a true outlaw and a great singer, songwriter, and performer.”
A complex figure on the country music scene, Coe boasted about adventures on the road and in prison, Rolling Stone reported.
In 1977, Johnny Paycheck took his song, “Take This Job and Shove It” and made it into a hit. He also wrote “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone),” that Tanya Tucker sang in 1973 that topped the country charts, according to the magazine.
Fans loved his raw, sometimes obscene lyrics and his outlaw persona, The Associated Press reported. A stream of offensive, racist songs that Coe insisted were parodies still cause music fans to bristle, according to Rolling Stone. He was also criticized for frequently using the Confederate flag as a backdrop during his performances, People reported.
In addition to “Take This Job and Shove It,” a No. 1 country single that earned Coe his only Grammy Award nomination, the singer scored hits during the 1970s with “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and “Longhaired Redneck.” During the 1980s, he wrote “The Ride” and “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile,” according to the magazine.
Coe was born on Sept. 6, 1939, in Akron, Ohio, and was sent to reform school when he was 9, spending time in and out of prison for the next two decades, Rolling Stone reported. He served time for grand theft auto and possession of burglary tools, among other charges.
He claimed that in 1963, he killed a fellow inmate with a mop bucket after a fellow prisoner threatened him in the showers.
After he was released from prison in 1967, Coe traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a music career, according to People.
“I’d have never made it through prison without my music,” he told the AP in a 1983 interview. “No one could take it (music) away from me. They could put me in the hole with nothing to do but I could still make up a song in my head.”
His first album drew upon that experience. The blues album, called “Penitentiary Blues,” featured songs that Coe wrote while incarcerated.
Rolling Stone called Coe “a wildly eccentric figure,” noting that he drove a hearse and wore a Lone Ranger mask to set himself apart from other country music figures.
In 1976, Coe released “Longhaired Redneck,” and followed it up a year later with “Rides Again,” People reported.
In 2016, Coe was ordered to pay more than $980,000 in restitution for obstructing the IRS and was sentenced to three years’ probation, the AP reported. Court documents said that Coe earned income from at least 100 concerts annually from 2008 through 2013 and either did not file individual income tax returns or pay taxes when he did file, according to the news organization.
Despite his notoriety on and off the stage, Coe never achieved the mainstream success enjoyed by Willie Nelson or Waylon Jennings.
“I did it,” he told the Phoenix New Times in a 1993 interview. “I was singing that stuff for years. I was living it for years. Willie, Waylon — they just got more famous. I was the original outlaw.”