David Allan Coe’s final completed studio album, “A Million Reasons,” will be released digitally Oct. 16 through F3 Entertainment and Symphonic, offering a final collection of studio recordings from the outlaw country singer-songwriter, who died April 29 at age 86.
The 11-track album was recorded nearly a decade before its release. The original sessions took place in 2017 through Average Joes Entertainment, with Colt Ford spearheading the project and Noah Gordon and Lex Lipsitz serving as producers. Although the recordings were completed, the album remained unreleased.
Former Coe co-manager and Average Joes Entertainment partner Ken Madson acquired the master recordings in 2022 and began working to complete the project for release.
“When I began working with David Allan Coe in 2017 to record this album, my goal was to capture his voice and musical legacy in the best way possible,” Madson said. “The project ultimately took a different path than we anticipated, but I remained committed to seeing the recordings completed and made available to his fans.” PR Final-DAC-A Million Reasons …
The album includes newly recorded performances as well as previously unreleased material. Wrestling personality Ric Flair provides an introduction before Coe’s new recording of one of his best-known songs, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.”
Other tracks include the title song, “A Million Reasons”; the Johnny Cash tribute “Corner of Cash and Coe”; “Free My Mind”; and a new Southern rock treatment of “Take This Job and Shove It,” the Coe composition that became a No. 1 country hit for Johnny Paycheck in 1978.
The collection also includes two songs with Kid Rock songwriting connections. “Single Father” was written by Coe and Robert Ritchie, Kid Rock’s legal name, while “Only God Knows Why” is credited to Ritchie, John Travis and Matt Shaffer. PR Final-DAC-A Million Reasons …
Former Coe co-manager and songwriter David Wade said the title track grew directly from events in Coe’s life.
“This album’s title track ‘A Million Reasons’ started being written the afternoon we took David Allan Coe to federal court in Cincinnati, where he was found guilty of owing the IRS a million dollars,” Wade said. “This album contains songs that David Allan Coe has lived during his later years of life. He wanted that to be part of his outlaw legacy.”
Following Coe’s death earlier this year, Madson said completing the project took on additional significance.
“After David’s passing earlier this year, finishing what we started and sharing what has now become his final completed studio album has felt more important than ever,” he said.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Coe began releasing records in the early 1970s and became closely associated with the outlaw country movement. His debut album, “Penitentiary Blues,” was released in 1970.
Coe established himself both as a recording artist and as a songwriter whose work was recorded by other major country performers. He wrote Tanya Tucker’s No. 1 country hit “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)” and Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It.”
His own best-known recordings include “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” “Longhaired Redneck,” “The Ride” and “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile.” His recording of “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” released on the 1975 album “Once Upon a Rhyme,” became his first Top 10 country single, reaching No. 8 on Billboard’s country chart.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Coe released dozens of studio albums along with live recordings and collaborations, developing a musical identity largely outside Nashville’s traditional country establishment.
‘A Million Reasons’ track list
- “Ric Flair Intro” – Ric Flair
- “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” – Steve Goodman
- “A Million Reasons” – Jim “Moose” Brown, David Wade, Shane Grove and Erik Westfall
- “Take This Job and Shove It” – David Allan Coe
- “Roll Me a Smoke” – David Allan Coe
- “Corner of Cash and Coe” – Rick Troyer, Erik Westfall, Shane Grove and David Wade
- “Free My Mind” – David Allan Coe
- “Only God Knows Why” – John Travis, Matt Shaffer and Robert Ritchie
- “Single Father” – Robert Ritchie and David Allan Coe
- “No Holes in These Hands” – David Wade, Gary Edwards, Rick Troyer and David Allan Coe
- “A Million Reasons (Acoustic)” – Jim “Moose” Brown, David Wade, Shane Grove and Erik Westfall
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