Newspaper Page Text
Page 18
Flagpole Magazine
October 9, 1991
A legend in someone’s mind...
A lot of myths surround the images that make up today’s
bright constellations of country and western music stars,
but in the case of David Allan Coe, we’re talking about
hu^g-over-the-next-morning reality. This man has been at
it for a long time and has probably played on more stages
in front of more people than just about anybody who's ever
played Athens, including that double-knit dude who had
white-hair at 23 and presently owns a horse-pasture golf
course east of town. Far from the links and riding rings, THE
MYSTERIOUS RHINESTONECOWBOYcuthisdebutalbum,
Penitentiary Blues, at Sun Records in 1969, after gaining an
early release from prison with the help of that big man in
black, Johnny Cash.
There’s no way to get around it, people are always
asking, and you’re probably wondering right now...Why
was he in prison? Well, why is anyone in prison? Without
launching in-depth
analyses of our
nation’s overcrowded
so-called correctional
system, for most in
mates it’s simply,
“When they want you,
they get you, and when
they got you, they keep
you." Yeah, but what
did he do? Possession
of obscene materials -
Popeye comic books
used to be somewhat
risque, if not out and
out pornographic, and
Playboy was actually
illegal in some states if not kept in a top drawer by the bed.
Possession of burglary tools - this is a tough one even
today, as one can be arrested for carrying a screwdriver or
a crescent wrench in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Our free society allows its citizens to be thrown in the can
for saying FUCK in any context in the presence of a law
enforcement official.
So it doesn't really matter why or how long he was
incarcerated, except for the fact that he truly lived the hard
life that has given him the soul to create and express himself
in songs that rarely grace our airwaves. His first big hit
raised eyebrows when 13 year old Tanya Tucker topped
the charts for the first time with “Would You Lay with Me (In
a Field of Stone).’ The Oak Ridge Boys owe their first airplay
to Coe's Family Reunion. And a song we can all relate to
(especially former road crew members) became the first
crossover hit for Johnny Paycheck, "Take this Job and
Shove it’. It almost seems that everyone was making it big
on David Allan Coe songs, except David Allan Coe. For the
longest time, the radio was “You Never Even Called Me by
My Name," known to most as “Darlin’ Darlin’. He hasn’t
released a single since 1978 when he finally got some
national airplay with “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile." Today he
can be heard singing "My Long Hair Just Can't Cover Up
My Redneck" in the background of Greg Reece's ad for
'Dirt Roads and Honky Tonks’ on WUOG. It’s interesting to
note that rednecks did start growing their hair longer, and
hopefully have found that free love and good dope go a lot
better with beer-drinking than kicking hippies’ asses and
raising hell. I know some dudes who religiously listen to
David Allan Coe’s Nothing Is Sacred gospel album before
going to Bulldog games.
David Allan Coe has driven his tour bus down a lot of dirt
roads and has played in just about every honky tonk in the
country. He was the original Outlaw of the Nashville/Grand
Ole Opry scene. Even
his own road to su
per-stardom. Inaday
when obscurity
meant just that, Coe
would walk from the
alley behind Ryman
Auditorium (home of
the Opry) into the
back door of Tootsie's
Orchid Lounge, be
decked in rhinestone
studded boots, belt,
and hat, rush through
the place like he just
got off stage, and out
the front door. Some
one would always ask, "Who was that masked man?" And
someone would always answer, “That, my friend, was THE
MYSTERIOUS RHINESTONE COWBOY."
For a singer/songwriter who has put out over twenty
albums over as many years, you just don’t hear a lot about
him, and that is the mystery for a man to be able to play in
a place where boot-toes touch noses and full pitchers fly on
one night, and the next day do a clean down home show for
grandma and the kids, complete with costume changes
and songs that bring tears to your eyes and chills up and
down your spine, we’re not talking about just some guy with
a band who sings songs, but an entertainer who gives a
crowd an overdose of what they came for. Today, that
obscurity continues to bring to us not merely a cult figure,
but a true American folk hero.
Mr. Coe will perform on Friday, October 11 at the
Georgia Theatre. Catch a legend in action.
Will Jackson
Cafe;
CUSTOM
MADE
PITA
BREAD
SANDWICHES
SINCE
1974
Sandwiches,
Platters, Salads,
Beer & Wine, etc.
On the downtown busline
Take Out Available
B ACROSS FROM THE UGA ARCH
154 E. CLAYTON ST.
3 candidates
Irrespective of the fact that Franklin Delano passed from
our midst (sniff) in 1945, leaving most everyone wondering
what was going to happen next, that clown Truman sitting
at the helm and all, I suppose you are wondering where this
is going. Well, here is where: three bands share the bill (and
the loot, hopefully) at The 40 Watt on Thursday, October 10.
They are Mombo Fury, Magneto, and Roosevelt. Now you
see: that last one ties it all together, doesn’t it? Where is
Harold Stassen now that we need him? (30.)
Z£
AfcHan'a Original Sport:* Bar
WSMESMY
(Donr.®
$2.75 Pitchers
$1.50 Bar Dinks
Mona Lisa & the
Pressure Cookers
(DCTTofl®
“Dos Guys :>
$1. Glacier Bay
WmmY
GxgTT.aa
Little Titains
$2.75 Pitchers
®CTo m
Baves vs.
Pirates
on the Tube
Mmssmir
©GSTToMi
Monday Night
Football
$2.75 Pitchers
IHnniamT
Roy Finch,
Andy Carlson
& Friends
240 N. Lumpkin • 548-6941