One of the most controversial and iconic names in country music has died. David Allan Coe, who was born in Ohio but lived in Florida for many years, died at 86 years old on April 29, 2026.
The outlaw country singer was a staple of 1970s and 1980s country music hits and faced controversy for his criminal history and use of slurs in some of his earliest underground songs.
Still beloved by many, he’s known for writing the self-proclaimed “perfect country and western song,” the 1975 hit “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.”
Here’s what to know about David Allan Coe, the controversies surrounding his life and lyrics and some of his ties to the Sunshine State.
How old was David Allan Coe? Who was David Allan Coe?
David Allan Coe was a country music singer and songwriter who reached peak commercial success in the 1970s and ‘80s, with hits like “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” “The Ride” and “She Used to Love Me a Lot.” He was a major figure in the 1970s outlaw country subgenre. He also wrote hits for other artists, like “Take This Job and Shove It,” sung by Johnny Paycheck.
Coe was also the first artist to record “Tennessee Whiskey,” a song (written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove) that has become extremely popular in recent years due to a cover sung by Chris Stapleton.
Many of Coe’s fans like to point out that despite his significant impact on the genre, he was never inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, likely due to his rebellious image, criminal history and sometimes controversial lyrics.
In 2000, The New York Times wrote that two of his early albums were “among the most racist, misogynist, homophobic and obscene songs recorded by a popular songwriter.” In 2005, Coe told The Rolling Stone that he wrote those songs in prison, where the slurs “didn’t mean nothin.”
Before exploding to country music fame in Nashville, he grew up in Akron, Ohio, and had a tumultuous youth. He was sent to a reform school for boys at just nine years old and spent the majority of the next two decades in and out of correctional facilities, having been convicted of crimes ranging from possession of burglary tools to auto theft.
He even spent three years in an Ohio penitentiary, where he took up songwriting behind bars.
“Coe has also claimed that he killed a fellow prisoner in an Ohio penitentiary and at one point was facing execution, but no one has been able to substantiate this story,” Coe’s biography on the Sun Records website says.
More recently, in 2015, Coe pleaded guilty to impeding and obstructing the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay almost $1 million in restitution, WCPO reported. Although the case was handled in Ohio, he was reportedly living in Ormond Beach, Florida, at the time.
Coe was 86 when he died on April 29, 2026. A cause of death wasn’t immediately reported, but he was previously hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2021 and was reportedly known to have been experiencing declining health.
David Allan Coe’s most popular songs
David Allan Coe’s most popular song, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” is known as the self-described “perfect country and western song.”
Here are the most famous lyrics from the 1975 hit:
“Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song/ And he told me it was the perfect country and western song/ I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country and western song / Because he hadn’t said anything at all about mama / Or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting’ drunk….”
The following and last verse of the song includes a made-up story about being drunk the day his mom got out of prison and going to pick her up in the rain. But before he could get to the station in his pickup truck, she got run over by a train.
Here are some of David Allan Coe’s other popular songs:
Was David Allan Coe in the Outlaws MC?
Yes, David Allan Coe was a member of the Louisville, Kentucky, chapter of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The club began in 1935 in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, and now has more than 440 chapters in 43 countries. There are 17 chapters in Florida. Coe was known to frequently ride with the club in Daytona, Florida, where he was a fixture of Daytona’s Bike Week for decades.
“In July 1967 the Outlaws National President and a few more members came down from Chicago, and we were the first chapter sanctioned in Florida,” the club’s website says.
Many law enforcement agencies have designated the Outlaws MC as an organized crime syndicate. But members of the club have continuously denied that the Outlaws are involved in organized crime.
There were five significant criminal trials involving members of the Outlaws MC in Florida between 1981 and 2003.
“The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a nationwide organization with a number of Florida chapters, including one in Tampa and one in St. Petersburg, was alleged to be a racketeering enterprise. Membership in the Outlaws was limited to white males who owned and rode Harley-Davidson motorcycles,” The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida says.
“Between 1981 and 2003, five significant criminal trials involving the Outlaws Motorcycle Club were conducted in the Tampa Courthouse. All of the indictments alleged violations of the federal racketeering laws and the trial evidence included testimony about prostitution, drugs, guns, extortion, and murder.”
Here are the Florida chapters of the Outlaws MC, according to its website:
Where did David Allan Coe live? David Allan Coe’s time in Florida
David Allan Coe lived in many places during his career and life, and spent many years living in Florida. In the late 1970s, Coe moved to Key West, Florida, where he self-released two albums.
“Moving to Key West, Florida, Coe independently released two albums, the comedy-inspired ‘Nothing Sacred’ (1978) and his controversial ‘Underground Album’ (1982),” Coe’s official website says.
In his later years, Coe reportedly moved to Ormond Beach, Florida, to live a quieter life. Reports shortly before his death suggested he was likely still residing here in the Sunshine State at the time of his death, but haven’t been confirmed. The only details released at the time of his death were that he died in the hospital, with no mention of where.
What movie is about David Allen Coe? David Allan Coe documentaries, films to watch
There are a few David Allan Coe documentaries, but the movie that he stars in as himself is not available to stream. The only David Allan Coe-related documentary or movie currently available to stream is “Heartworn Highways,” which is about the outlaw country music movement.
Watch ‘Heartworn Highways’ on Amazon Prime
David Allan Coe-related documentaries and movie:
Lianna Norman is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, lotteries, rocket launches, Florida wildlife, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Who was David Allan Coe? What we know about his ties to Florida
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
