David Allan Coe — the outlaw country artist who once collaborated with Pantera‘s Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown — died yesterday (April 29th) at the age of 86. A cause of death has yet to be revealed, but his passing was confirmed by his wife, Kimberley Hastings Coe, and representatives.
“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,” Kimberley wrote in a statement through Rolling Stone, where she described him as “one of the best singers, songwriters and performers of our time.”
Born September 6th, 1939, in Akron, Ohio, Coe spent time in various prisons and reformatories before landing a music career, serving time for charges including grand theft auto and possession of burglary tools. He broke into the Nashville country scene in the late Sixties, and got a career bump after Tanya Tucker covered his “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)” and turned it into a No. 1 country hit in 1973.
Other notable singles of his included “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and 1977 working-class anthem “Take This Job and Shove It,” the latter getting a hardcore makeover via the Dead Kennedys on their 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy.
By the Nineties, Coe connected with Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, bassist Rex Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul to make Rebel Meets Rebel, a country-metal crossover billed as being performed by David Allen Coe and the Cowboys From Hell. The sessions, which began in the late Nineties but wouldn’t see release until 2006, also featured Hank Williams III.
Coe had also appeared in Pantera’s “Revolution Is My Name” video in 2000. Brown recalled with Revolver a few years back that the cameo was kinda unexpected.
“So we’re shooting this video and Dime’s best buddy, David Allan Coe, shows up in his tour bus. Somehow he’s in the video,” Brown said. “See, Dime was actually doing two records at once — this Pantera record and this record we did with David Allan Coe [Rebel Meets Rebel] that didn’t come out till years later. That was Dime’s baby. That was his fun time — hanging out with the old man. It’s funny because they were about 35 years apart, but they were identical. It was nutty.
Coe had been actively performing live up until 2021.