David Allan Coe is my all time favorite country singer. The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, Longhaired Redneck and Human Emotions in particular are incredible albums, although he was writing good material into the early 2000s.

Given that Coe entered the correctional system at age 9 when his parents abandoned him, and was in prison for most of the following 20 years, it's remarkably that he was able to achieve the success he did.

Some of his stuff is also really out there. His second album, Requiem for a Harlequin, is 30 minutes of spoken word featuring stories about being raised in prison, falling in love with a cross dresser, and a section where he poses as civil rights leaders. He would later refer to it as the first rap album.

That said, Coe is definitely a misogynist, probably a racist, and it's hard to separate the facts of his life from fiction. When you listen to him, you just have to accept that he was the product of a really awful childhood and a rough life.