New David Allan Coe Documentary Unveiled

Following a brief question and answer session, Shambhavi Kaul introduced her documentary, “Field of Stone,” an hour-long presentation that described the life of country music star David Allan Coe at Davidson College in North Carolina last week. Kaul noted the difficulty involved in depicting an accurate description of David Allan Coe in an interview with Independent Weekly.

“When I started making this film, the biggest realization was that I was trying to make an intimate portrait of a very complex person,” said Kaul. Insisting that the inclination to label the true outsider of the outlaw country movement as a racist or misogynist simply doesn’t work.

“But, on some level, this was going to be a film about not knowing, a film about not getting the answers. I still don’t know what he is,” she said.

Anyone who is familiar with David Allan Coe’s career knows that it has been a checkered one. A tattoo-covered ex-felon who is known to kick-off a live concert by riding on-stage on a Harley and screaming obscenities, Coe has collaborated and recorded with stars such as Willie Nelson and Tammy Wynette.

Kaul’s cinematic presentation of Coe followed him on tours and shed light on his personal life. The film also offered a critical look at Coe’s on-stage personage and the blue-collars fans who support his racist, rebellious behavior. Coe achieved his greatest popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career. As a songwriter, his best-known compositions are "Would You Lay with Me (in a Field of Stone)," originally recorded by Tanya Tucker, and "Take this Job and Shove It." The latter was a #1 hit for Johnny Paycheck, and it was later turned into a hit movie (both Coe and Paycheck had minor parts in the film).