Coe\u2019s background was suitable for finding a home in the outlaw country movement. He claimed to have been inspired by blues legend Screamin\u2019 Jay Hawkins, who he said was a fellow inmate<\/a> at one point.<\/p>\n Upon his release from Ohio State Penitentiary in 1967, Coe headed to Nashville and attempted to break into the country music scene. He was said<\/a> to have lived out of his car, sometimes camping outside the city\u2019s Ryman Auditorium \u2014 former home of the Grand Ole Opry<\/a> \u2014 in hopes of gaining notice.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until two years later that Coe would snag a record deal with Shelby Singleton\u2019s SSS International and Plantation Records and release \u201cPenitentiary Blues.\u201d The album failed to sell well but was received with warmth by critics and fans.<\/p>\n He then hit the road, opening for the likes of Grand Funk Railroad and performing at clubs across the country. His second album, \u201cRequiem for a Harlequin,\u201d mirrored the reception of his first.<\/p>\n He eventually got some radio play with his 1973 single \u201cKeep Those Big Wheels Hummin\u2019.\u201d Though Coe failed to shake up country music at that time, he would still release singles under Singleton\u2019s Nashville-based record company, Plantation Records. He eventually parted with the producer.<\/p>\n Still, Coe was excelling as a songwriter. Notably, Tanya Tucker scored a breakout hit with his \u201cWould You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone),\u201d which peaked<\/a> at No. 46 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 \u2014 it spent 10 weeks on the charts \u2014 and reached No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs.<\/p>\n David Allan Coe with guitar dressed as The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy for the cover of The New York magazine in August 1975.<\/p>\n (Al Clayton\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Coe began reinventing his on-stage persona, donning rhinestone-studded suits and wearing a cloth mask. He signed with Columbia Records and called himself \u201cThe Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy,\u201d releasing an album of the same name in 1974 \u2014 one year before Glen Campbell released his hit song \u201cRhinestone Cowboy.\u201d<\/p>\n Coe\u2019s second LP for Columbia, \u201cOnce Upon a Rhyme,\u201d released in 1975, was a success, featuring the hit single \u201cYou Never Even Called Me by My Name.\u201d <\/p>\n That same year, a documentary<\/a> titled \u201cDavid Allan Coe: The Mysterious Rhinestone\u201d was released<\/a> featuring the singer performing<\/a> \u201c33rd of August\u201d from a prison cell at the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio.<\/p>\n The documentary notes a claim Coe made during his lifetime that was widely disputed \u2014 that he had killed another inmate at Ohio State Penitentiary \u2014 and says prison officials said there was no evidence to support it. <\/p>\n Coe was known for fabricating stories about his life, with Jennings\u2019 drummer Richie Albright once stating<\/a> that he was a \u201ca great, great songwriter\u201d but \u201che could not tell the truth if it was better than a lie he\u2019d made up.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless, Coe quickly ditched the \u201cRhinestone Cowboy\u201d act and returned to the basics. In 1976, he etched his name into country music history when he was featured prominently in the documentary \u201cHeartworn Highways.\u201d<\/p>\n The film was released in 1976 and became a cult classic. It was directed by James Szalapski and would not achieve a theatrical release until 1981. The documentary chronicled the height of outlaw country, which saw Coe in good company \u2014 Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, and the Charlie Daniels Band are also featured. <\/p>\n In a 1996 audio interview with Thomas W. Campbell, a member of the National Board of Review, Szalapski said of the project, \u201cI wanted to capture a kind of movement, a kind of a revolution \u2014 to do a portrait of that rather than of three guys.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt there was a change happening to country music, a sub-culture within it that was becoming powerful that would affect the main culture. So that\u2019s what I went after and that\u2019s why I …felt like I needed to cover a lot of different areas from the established star like Charlie Daniels to the struggling singer-songwriter to David Allan Coe, who\u2019s \u2026 even an outlaw amongst the outlaws.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n (Rudolph Faircloth \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Coe\u2019s performance<\/a> at Tennessee State Prison in 1976 is captured in the film, serving as a highlight. He performs songs such as the previously detailed \u201cDeath Row,\u201d taking brief intervals to tell stories of his experiences while incarcerated.<\/p>\n \u201cShow y\u2019all how, someone like you, gets to where I\u2019m at today, being someone like me, because I used to be someone like you,\u201d he says, standing in front of inmates in a rhinestone suit. \u201cAnd it started when I was 15 years old, at the Boys\u2019 Industrial School in Ohio, and I started singing with just my guitar and five of my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n The rest of the \u201970s saw the outlaw country movement in full swing, with Jennings and Nelson rising to household names. Coe remained an outsider, but released would-be influential records such as \u201cLonghaired Redneck.\u201d The compilation album became the first-ever platinum certified country record, Rolling Stone reports<\/a>. In 1977, Coe penned \u201cTake This Job and Shove It,\u201d which became a hit for Johnny Paycheck.<\/p>\n The \u201980s brought all but the end for outlaw country as the urban cowboy era took its place, widely attributed to the John Travolta film of the same name,<\/p>\n Coe rejected the trend, sticking to his classic outlaw style. <\/p>\n \u201cCastles in the Sand,\u201d released in 1983, marked a comeback for Coe, with its lead single, \u201cThe Ride,\u201d hitting No. 1 on the Cashbox Country Singles chart that year.<\/p>\n Coe appeared alongside Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson in a pair of TV movies in 1986, \u201cThe Last Days of Frank & Jesse James\u201d and \u201cStagecoach.\u201d <\/p>\n Around 1990, Coe\u2019s contract with Columbia ended and amid personal troubles including a divorce and trouble with the IRS, his Key West, Fla., home was seized. Coe said he lived in a cave for some time \u2014 another of his claims that was disputed.<\/p>\n Coe spurred controversy with independent albums \u201cNothing Sacred\u201d and \u201cUnderground Album,\u201d released in 1978 and 1982, respectively. <\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777573457_597_.jpeg\")
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