MUSIC

Dosey Doe Coffee House presents David Allen Coe & Band.

In 1968, Coe released his debut album, Penitentiary Blues, followed by a tour with Grand Funk Railroad. Although he developed a cult following with his performances, he was not able to develop any mainstream success, but other performers achieved charting success by recording songs Coe had written, including Billie Jo Spears' 1972 recording "Souvenirs & California Mem'rys" and Tanya Tucker's 1973 single "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)," which was a number one hit, and responsible for Coe becoming one of Nashville's hottest songwriters and Coe himself being signed by Columbia Records.

Coe recorded his own version of the song for his second Columbia album, Once Upon a Rhyme, released in 1975. Allmusic writer Thom Jurek said of the song, "The amazing thing is that both versions are definitive." The album also contained a cover of Steve Goodman's "You Never Even Called Me by My Name," which was a Top Ten Billboard hit, and was followed by a string of moderately successful hits. Coe was a featured performer in Heartworn Highways, a 1975 documentary film by James Szalapski.

Coe's musical style derives from blues, rock and country music traditions. His vocal style is described as a "throaty baritone." His lyrical content is often humorous or comedic, with William Ruhlmann describing him as a "near-parody of a country singer." Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes Coe as "a great, unashamed country singer, singing the purest honky-tonk and hardest country of his era He may not be the most original outlaw, but there's none more outlaw than him."