This Is What Happened to the David Allan Coe Band, or: Becoming the Centre of the Universe

[Despite my clarifications within this article, many people seem to think I'm lambasting my father and criticising his career. That is not the case. I'm a bigger David Allan Coe fan than you are - hands down, no question. I've posted my Top 50 DAC songs. Click that link. You'll probably learn some things you don't know.]

Today is my birthday. I've been breathing for 29 years, of which this last has brought monumental change, the type that brings about reevaluation of those preceding. There is, though, one thing I am asked about every single day: why am I no longer playing guitar for the DAC band?

So this is what happened.

My father told me I was a member of his band when I was 15 years old. We were in the back of a stretch limo on the way back from his picking me up at the Orlando airport. I'd been visiting my mother in Tennessee, not having seen her in the year since I left home after finding brochures to military schools in our mail.

"You been practicing your guitar chords?"

'Yeah.' <--- LIE

"Good. I'm recording a live album in three days. You're on it."

Little family chats like that are how you lose a decade of your life.

I was now the "rhythm" guitar player for the David Allan Coe band. "Rhythm" because that's the label that stuck despite the wild permutations of its reality. Initially I played a six-string acoustic, seated, cheat sheets of the chord progressions to every song taped to the floor beneath me. With a full band, my contributions to the show were insignificant, to be sure.

I was, however, determined to get good at my instrument. I eventually did, only to discover that it didn't matter how well I performed any given night. If my father decided the show wasn't going to go well then it wasn't going to go well. Thanks to his practice of introducing me as his son at the end of nearly every show and then leaving while I stayed behind to help load out, I became the unofficial Complaints Dept...

YOU DIDN'T ENJOY THE DAVID ALLAN COE CONCERT

a Top Ten list of complaints received by Author, in person and otherwise, and Author's response

1. "Your/his guitar is too loud!" You're right. It is. My father has hearing loss and refuses to hire (or heed advice given by) professional audio technicians because that would make it much more difficult to pretend there is a problem with the sound, which he would do, without fail, every night, for reasons ultimately known only to himself. His guitar amp is the loudest thing I've ever heard. Some people will tell you that my guitar amp is the loudest thing they've ever heard. That would be because they were standing directly in front of my amp, which was at a volume sufficient to allow myself to be able to hear it beneath my father's.
2. "Everything sounds distorted!" That'd be the volume again. The man you saw running around the stage putting his head in front of various speakers was doing his best to make things sound okay but he was not a professional sound tech. Even if he was, he was being asked to perform an impossible task. A "band" comprised of three electric guitars and a drummer is just not going to sound like anything you're used to, especially in "country" music. I developed a technique of playing bass notes with my thumb and cranked the lows on my EQ but there's only so much that can be done.
3. "He didn't play his own songs!" This is and isn't a valid complaint. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. Briefly: I loved playing all the Waylon Jennings songs that we played. They are great songs and Waylon isn't around to do them anymore. Conversely, I hated playing songs by, say, Toby Keith, because there was no reason for us to be doing that. It was frustrating but ultimately a life lesson on what you can and can't control.
4. "He only played pieces of his songs!" Same as the last. The medleys were a lot of fun when the transitions felt organic. Other times, they felt like a deliberate attempt to keep the show from going well. I know this could seem to you as if I'm bitterly saying these outlandish things but ask anyone who's ever played for David Allan Coe and they'll confirm what I'm saying. Too, I am so emotionally detached from everything being discussed on this list. They weren't my decisions.
5. "He didn't play any songs!" While an obvious exaggeration, yes, there were nights it seemed he took the stage only to rant and complain about never having received his just rewards from critics, etc. I probably found this more annoying than anyone else because as it happened I was standing on stage, in front of everyone, doing nothing, like an asshole, with a heavy Gibson SG hanging from my neck.
6. "It's hot!" I know. My father's skin and vocal chords are sensitive to the sudden changes in temperature found in air conditioned environments. I seem to have inherited this from him so I can say it is a valid requirement for him to perform.
7. "He only played an hour and they said it was a two hour show!" They lied.
8. "He's late!" I know.
9. "That vocal effect he's using sounds terrible!" I know.
10. "That woman sounds terrible!" I know.

So, okay, you deal with all of that for years because it's your father and family is family. And I would have kept dealing with all of it. I would have fought uphill until my father said, "Enough."

Now.

I try to be nice and consider the feelings of others. It's what has kept me so evasive on this subject until now. The dilemma is that I've been put in a situation where my personal reputation and the weight of my word is being called in to question. Some may say to let the truth be known eventually and that there is dignity in remaining silent in situations such as these. Problem is that I'm no martyr. 

To be fair, I don't like her. So I've told you that up front...

There is a photocopy of a letter being posted throughout cyberspace. A letter written in my father's hand. The implication is that every person in his life, except his wife, abandoned him after his recent auto accident. Certainly, it doesn't make sense to me that every person in someone's life would take a hike because that person had an accident. Must be something else going on there...

A Lesson in Subterfuge

The first thing you want to do is get in close with the target. Then you do everything you can to erode the stability of every standing relationship the target had previous to your arrival. First, lower employees, pawns. They're easy. A small maneuver and they're history. Then, you're chipping away at the back row. Anyone who has decision making capabilities has to go. Anyone who controls money has to go. Friends who may take it upon themselves to offer advice to the target have to go. Family? This may prove difficult, as some family will no doubt see what you're doing, but family absolutely must go. The target has to believe that you are the only person who has their interest at heart. Never relent and you will succeed in your task.

Back to that weird letter then...

Bruce and Linda Smith are good people. They did NOT steal anything from my father. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar or was lied to by a liar. Bruce Smith dedicated more of the time and energy of his life to my father than did any other living person, with no exception, including myself. That's a fact. Bruce did quit his position as management for my father. In my opinion, he made a respectable decision to withdraw himself from a situation where his honor had been called in to question one too many times by a person whose own sense of honor seems non-existent.

The members of the David Allan Coe band did NOT quit their positions or abandon anyone. Steve Wood and Jake Stringer did not "abandon" their employer in a difficult time. They weren't even contacted about continuing in their positions as touring band members. Let no person call into question their professional integrity.

I did NOT quit my job working for my father. The last contact I received from David Allan Coe was a text from him telling me that he was going to play some shows by himself, without a band, to get back into the swing of things and then we'd figure things out from there. That was in response to a text that I had sent him, telling him that I would do everything that I could to keep him touring with a good band. After he told me that he was going to do some solo shows, I contacted him with some information about a record label in Europe who is hoping to reissue some of his older material. I received no response about that and shortly thereafter found out that he was performing shows with an entirely new band. My feelings were deeply hurt when I learned that he was announcing onstage that his entire band had quit him and everyone had "abandoned" him when this was not the case. It became clear that my attempts to contact him were being deliberately ignored and I have no idea why.

So that's what happened.

Make no mistake. This is not a tirade or reproach. I'm simply getting rid of the weight of keeping this shit a secret. I'm moving ahead. I'm going back to Nashville to be around the rest of my family. I have zero desire to be in another touring band at this time. I want to put distance between myself and those who would piss on the legacy of my surname.

Today is my birthday. I've been breathing for 29 years.

Thank you for your time. Are there any questions?

-TMC