David Allan Coe Re-Records 'You Never Even Called Me By My Name'

David Allan Coe re-recorded his signature hit, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," for what turned out to be his final album, and Taste of Country readers get to hear the new track before anybody else in this exclusive premiere.

Hear the New Recoding of David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name"

Coe began work on what turned out to be his final album, A Million Reasons, in 2017 for Average Joes Entertainment, with Colt Ford spearheading the project.

It didn't come to fruition at the time, but Coe's former co-manager, Ken Madson, acquired the tapes in 2022 and began working toward releasing the project.

One of the standout tracks is the re-recording of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which Steve Goodman and John Prine co-wrote.

Coe's original recording from 1975 gave him his first Top 10 hit, landing at No. 8 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

The new rendition remains fairly close to the original, but Coe's voice takes on a more weathered, lived-in tone befitting his legendry decades of hell-raising:

What Is David Allan Coe's Final Album?

Coe's final album, A Million Reasons, also features a new recording of "Take This Job and Shove It," which Coe wrote and Johnny Paycheck made into a hit, as well as a balance of new tracks.

Kid Rock co-wrote two of the new songs, "Only God Knows Why" and "Single Father."

Coe remained uncompromising both musically and personally right up until the end.

“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,” Coe's former co-manager and songwriter David Wade says.

“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.”

David Allan Coe's new re-recording of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" is set for release on Sunday (Sept. 6), on what would have been Coe's 87th birthday.

David Allan Coe died on April 29, 2026, at the age of 86.

A Million Reasons is set for release via F3 Entertainment/Symphonic on Oct. 16. It's currently available for pe-save and pre-add across a variety of digital music providers.

30 Outlaw Country Songs That Define The Movement

With its roots in the '60s and the honky-tonk style forged by Hank Williams, outlaw country music began to snowball in the '70s as more and more artists bristled against the genre's commercialism, social conventions and the slick and shiny "Nashville Sound."

Though some artists like Johnny Paycheck and David Allan Coe had served jail time before their success, the "outlaw" label applied more broadly to those artists who rejected the status quo in Nashville. Many of the definitive songs of the movement speak directly to that rebellion, while others simply embody an artist-driven, independent musical vision that sidestepped Nashville's country hit formula of the day.

Keep reading for a round-up of 30 songs that define the outlaw country movement.

Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak