Sealed LP: David Allan Coe: The Mysterious Rhinestone C

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David Allan Coe: The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy Rides Again As Teh Longhaired Redneck

FACTORY SEALED LP

• Sad Country Song
• Crazy Mary
• River
• 33rd of August
• Bossier City
• Atlanta Song
• Old Man Tell Me
• Desperados Waiting for a Train
• I Still Sing the Old Songs
• Old Grey Goose Is Dead

• Roon Bledsoe: Producer
• Ron Reynolds: Engineer
• David Malloy: Engineer
• Gerard Huerta: Cover Design, Illustration
• Don Hunstein: Photography

• David Allan Coe's debut album for Columbia proves beyond the shadow of doubt that he was the original alt-country antihero. Released in 1974, Coe revealed an adopted persona: The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy. He was equal parts hell-raising biker ex-con (this aspect was accurate); a pre-punk badass full of piss and vinegar, spewing vitriol (and bad humor) at the Nash Vegas establishment (and anyone who didn't like his music); a hillbilly version of Marc Bolan's glitz and glitter; and a sensitive country singer and songwriter heavily influenced by Merle Haggard, as good as anybody at his best — and that includes Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver, and Kris Kristofferson, to name but a few. Opening with "A Sad Country Song," Coe displays his lyrical and melodic gift that comes out of the great Texas and Bakersfield traditions. Amid a whining pedal steel, shimmery fiddle, and a waltz tempo heard above the guitars, Coe sings to the lonely and alone and offers his brand of empathy this way: "Just look for my name on a jukebox/When you're tired of being alone/Put in a dime and I'll take the time/ To sing you a sad country song." On the very next track, producer Ron Bledsoe borrows textural ideas from Mickey Newbury's recordings and Scott Walker's delivery on Michael Smith's folk classic "Crazy Mary." And speaking of Newbury, Coe's reading of his "33rd of August" is reverential but not to the point of mere imitation. The rain and thunder sounds are kept as essential elements of the song's composition. Coe understates his beautiful baritone in homage to Newbury's own considerable gift for understatement. Other Coe signature tunes like "I Still Sing the Old Songs" and "Atlanta Song" are recorded here for the first time, along with a killer cover of Guy Clark's "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train." Unlike later Coe recordings, there are no novelty tracks here, and as a label debut this is as auspicious as it gets.

• A life-long renegade, singer/songwriter David Allan Coe was one of the most colorful and unpredictable characters in country music history. One of the pioneering artists of the outlaw country movement of the '70s, he didn't have many big hits -- only three of his singles hit the Top Ten -- but he was among the biggest cult figures in country music throughout his career.
• Born in Akron, OH, Coe first got into trouble with the law at age nine. As a result, he was sent to reform school. For the next 20 years, he never spent more than a handful of months outside of a correctional facility -- he spent much of his twenties in the Ohio State Penitentiary. Released from prison in 1967, the wild-haired, earring-wearing, heavily tattooed Coe went straight for Nashville, where he lived in a hearse that he parked in front of the old Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Grand Ole Opry. Although he didn't conform to Nashville's professional standards, he soon gained the attention of the independent label Plantation Records, which released his debut album, Penitentiary Blues, in 1968. Followed within a year by a second volume, all of the songs on these albums were based on his prison experiences.
• Coe then toured with Grand Funk Railroad, a signal that he drew as much from rock's traditions as he did from country. Soon, he began performing in a rhinestone suit given to him by Mel Tillis, as well as a Lone Ranger mask, and began calling himself the "Masked Rhinestone Cowboy." Coe's concerts became notorious for their unpredictability -- frequently he would roar up on-stage astride his enormous Harley, swearing at the audience. He cultivated a large cult following with his act, but he couldn't break into the mainstream. However, other artists found success with his songs -- in 1972, Billie Jo Spears had a minor hit with his "Souvenirs & California Mem'rys," and in 1973, Tanya Tucker had a number one hit with Coe's "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)." After Tucker's hit, Coe suddenly became one of Nashville's hottest songwriters; some of the biggest country artists -- including Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Tammy Wynette -- recorded his tunes, leading to his own contract with Columbia Records.
• Coe's first two singles for Columbia didn't come close to the country Top 40, but his 1975 cover of Steve Goodman's "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" cracked the Top Ten. Although a string of moderate hits followed, he rarely cracked the country Top 40, although in 1977 Johnny Paycheck took Coe's "Take This Job and Shove It" to number one. During his 13-year association with Columbia, Coe released 26 albums, including the double-album set For the Record: The First 10 Years (1984), 1986's Son of the South (featuring Willie, Waylon, Jessi Colter, and other "outlaws"), and the highly regarded A Matter of Life and Death (1987).
• Although Coe had a successful career, it was one plagued with many setbacks. The conservative Nashville music industry frequently snubbed him and he had tax problems with the IRS; at one time, they seized his Key West home, and he went to live in a Tennessee cave until he got back on his feet. Toward the end of the '80s, Coe remarried and began to settle down. Throughout the '90s, he was a popular concert attraction in America and Europe. In addition to his musical career, he also acted in a few movies, including The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James. He also published a novel, -Psychopath, and an autobiography. The LP Recommended for Airplay was issued in 1999. The new millennium saw the release of Long Haired Country Boy in 2000; Songwriter of the Tear appeared on Cleveland the following year.

FINE PRINT

• All pictures are of the exact item being sold.
• This record was from a record store called "Phantasmagoria" that was located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Phantasmagoria went out of business in 1978. I purchased their leftover inventory some years later when I owned a new & used record store in Catasauqua called "Music Madness". Music Madness is still listed in the phone book if you want to try to contact me.
• Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of the albums. They had a sign on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of the albums. Most of the albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on.
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• All uninsured and underinsured shipments are the responsibility of the buyer.
• I have started to add a $1.00 "handling fee" which is to help defray the cost of a new mailing box. This is approximately what I pay for them from BagsUnlimited. If you opt to have your record(s) shipped by Priority Mail, I will refund the dollar since the box from the Post Office is free. If don't chose Priority Mail and you feel that the dollar is unfair, let me know so I can refund it. Upon refunding your dollar, I will package your album(s) in an "almost new" mailer which was used to send a record to me.
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