A Short Biography
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 The story of David Allan Coe has to begin with
his problems with the law. From an early age, David had
problems conforming to society's laws. At the age of
fourteen, young David Allan Coe found himself at the
Boy's Industrial School in Lancaster Ohio. Over the next
16 years he would see many correctional institutions. In
1967, after he was released from his parole, he journeyed
to Nashville to pursue a music career. When he arrived in
Nashville he had long hair, earrings, tattoos, and he
probably looked like he could have fit in better in the
hippie communitity than in the straight laced Nashville
community. Of course most people pursueing a music career
have their "dishwashing" story but David took
it one step further, actually living out of an old
hearse, which he liked to park in front of the Ryman
Auditorium (then home of the Grand old Opry). The story
goes that he would talk to the stage door guards at the
back of the Ryman during the shows, all the while
sweating in the un-air-conditioned back stage area and
then burst out the back door with his rhinestone jacket
on. Unknowing country music fans would naturally think
him a big star and mob him. It was during this time when
someone took to calling him the "Mysterious
Rhinestone Cowboy". In 1968 his big break came.
Shelby Singleton of Plantation Records took notice of his
talents and released his first album entitled Penitentiary
Blues. Within the next year he started touring with
the rock group, Grand Funk Railroad. |
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More to come! Check back for the next installment. |
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