David Allan Coe, who wrote 'Take This Job and Shove It' and other
country hits, dies at 86
[April 30, 2026]
David Allan Coe, the country singer-songwriter who wrote the
working class anthem “Take This Job and Shove It″ and had hits with “You
Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “The Ride” among others, has died.
He was 86.
Coe's wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone
on Wednesday.
She described him as one of the best singers and songwriters of our
time.
“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," she wrote to the publication.
A statement from a Coe representative to People said he died around 5
p.m. Wednesday. The cause of death wasn't disclosed.
Whether he was labeled outlaw or underground, Coe was clearly an
outsider in Nashville's music establishment, even throughout his
successes as an in-demand songwriter and singer, eventually developing a
core following around his raw, often obscene lyrics and a checkered and
somewhat mysterious past.
His wife posted on Facebook in September 2021 that he had been
hospitalized with COVID-19 and he made few appearances since then.
He did concert tours with Willie Nelson, Kid Rock, Neil Young and
others. He wrote “Take This Job and Shove It,” a hit by Johnny Paycheck
in 1977, and “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone),” a hit by
Tanya Tucker in 1974. He was also the first country singer to record
“Tennessee Whiskey,” penned by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, that has
since become a genre standard and hits for George Jones and Chris
Stapleton.
His own country hit recordings included “You Never Even Call Me by My
Name,” written by Steve Goodman and an uncredited John Prine; “The
Ride,” and “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile.” Coe also appeared in a handful of
movies, including “Stagecoach” and “Take this Job and Shove It,” which
was named after his song.
Coe, born in Akron, Ohio, spent time in reformatories as a youngster,
and served time in an Ohio prison from 1963 to 1967 for possession of
burglary tools. He also has said he spent time with the Outlaws
motorcycle club, but some of the tales about his prison time and his
personal life have been wildly exaggerated over the years.
“I’d have never made it through prison without my music,” he said in an
AP interview in 1983. “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.”
He recorded his first album, a blues album called “Penitentiary Blues,”
using songs that he wrote in prison. He later told reporters that he
tried not to lean too heavily on prison as a topic for songs because of
the similarities to the backstory of Merle Haggard, but that his
criminal history was all people seemed interested in focusing on.
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David Allan Coe, sporting Willie Nelson braids, performs at the
Willie Nelson July 4th Picnic, on July 4, 1983 at Atlanta
International Raceway in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Rudolph Faircloth,
File)
 Coe recorded next for Columbia
Records and did the album “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy,” which
became his nickname after performing in a rhinestone suit and
wearing a mask.
During the heyday of the outlaw movement, Coe placed himself at the
center of the scene, with songs like “Longhaired Redneck,” which
featured lyrics about performing in dive bars, “Where bikers stare
at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies who are praying they’ll
get out of here alive.”
He was featured in the acclaimed documentary about the outlaw
country movement called “Heartworn Highways,” in which he performs a
concert at a Tennessee prison.
Coe, himself heavily tattooed and sporting long hair, claimed a
diverse fan base that included bikers, doctors, lawyers and bankers.
His last record, released in 2006, was a collaboration with Dimebag
Darrell and other former members of the heavy metal group Pantera.
He released two R-rated albums, 1978′s “Nothing Sacred” and 1982′s
“Underground Album,” that he sold via biker magazines. The songs on
these albums have been criticized for being racist, homophobic and
sexually explicit. He told “Billboard” magazine in 2001 that author
and songwriter Shel Silverstein convinced him to record the songs he
had written, something he had come to regret.
“Those were meant to be sung around the campfire for bikers, and I
still don’t sing those songs in concert,” he said.
In 2016, Coe was ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 in
restitution for obstructing the tax agency and was sentenced to
three years’ probation. Court documents say Coe earned income from
at least 100 concerts yearly from 2008 through 2013 and either
didn’t file individual income tax returns or pay taxes when he did
file.
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