Longhaired Redneck was released in 1976 on Columbia.
Track Listing
All Songs written by David Allan Coe except where noted.
- “Longhaired Redneck” (Coe, Jimmy Rabbitt) – 3:24
- “When She’s Got Me (Where She Wants Me)” – 2:49
- “Revenge” (Coe, Jimmy Sadd) – 2:33
- “Texas Lullaby” (Coe, Ann McGowan) – 4:14
- “Living on the Run” (Coe, Jimmy L. Howard) – 2:35
- “Family Reunion” – 4:03
- “Rock and Roll Holiday” – 2:11
- “Free Born Rambling Man” – 2:16
- “Spotlight” – 3:11
- “Dakota the Dancing Bear, Part 2” (Coe, Larry Murray) – 4:00
Liner Notes
…and so we came to Nashville, like so many before us. With notebooks full of songs, written on some secluded corner on a napkin or in an alley on a paper bag. But we were different! Not only were our songs about drugs and prostitution, murder and rape, but our appearance was not up to Nashville standards. We had long hair and beards, some wore earrings and rode motorcycles. And of the five hundred or more who came that year only a handful remained. And of the handful who remained, only one name has come out of the alleys and honky tonks and found it’s way to Rolling Stone and other national papers. Only one face has appeared on the cover of the New York Times, and other major magazines – mine. The others left – disillusioned. Some like Kristofferson went on to be movie stars. Others succumbed to the drudgery of factory life. But I stayed. And I walked the streets and played in bars until the breaks came. And they called me an “Outlaw.” They said I was an “underground legend.” They called me a “cosmic cowboy.” I called myself “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy.” And the harder I tried to be me, the more they tried to make me something else – someone else. But I had made it through twenty years in prison, and I could hold out for the things I believe in. We still don’t understand each other, but we’re trying. I was permitted to use my band on half of this album, which is a breakthrough for guys like me, who like to deal in realities. But they put up with a lot from me. These conservative people that deal with me every day of my musical life. Only time will tell who is right and wrong. Theories are made to break other theories every day. But I have no illusions as to how hard my future will be now that I’ve had a hit record. Some country stations think I’m a hippie. Most top 40 stations label me a hillbilly. And now the press is calling me a long haired redneck. I am the future for the past is dead Help me live … Play this for a friend
Yours in truth, David Allan Coe
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By 1976, singer and songwriter David Allan Coe had grown tired of being ignored by the Nash Vegas DJs and promotion men. His wild, long hair; multiple earrings; flashy, glitzy rhinestone suits; Harley Davidson biker boots; and football-sized belt buckles had become obstacles to getting people to take him seriously as a recording artist. Other singers continued to record and succeed with his material, but the author himself — who was as good a singer as almost anyone and better than most — languished in obscurity. Rather than tone it down, Coe characteristically shoved the stereotypes in their faces. He retired the Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy persona and billed his new album as “David Allan Coe Rides Again as the Longhaired Redneck,” something equally off-putting to institution types. The album is composed entirely of self-penned tunes and co-writes. It begins with the title track, an outlaw anthem akin to Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother.” But the album also includes some of Coe’s most enduring material: “Revenge,” “When She’s Got Me Where She Wants Me,” “Texas Lullaby,” “Family Reunion,” and “Livin’ on the Run.” The two hinge tracks on the album come near its end. “Free Born Rambling Man,” with its Allman Brothers guitar lines, is a nod to Coe’s friend Dickey Betts’ hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” full of early country melody and first-class storytelling. “Spotlight,” however, is where Coe sums up the way he views his life at this particular juncture, and given the lyrics, his mind couldn’t have been a nice place to live. The simple three-chord waltz sets a backdrop for songs that strip the issues to the bone: “All of my music is lonely/Yea, all of my heartaches were free/Don’t waste your time or your flashbulbs/Too many heroes are dead/You like to live in the city/I like to live in my head…I spend my nighttimes in mournin’/I spend my mornings alone/You spent your money to see me tonight/Yea, I spent all mine getting stoned…Everyone’s lyin’ about livin’/ I’m tired of livin’ a lie.” Like most of Coe’s ’70s material, this one’s essential outlaw country that stands the test of time.