Album Review – David Allan Coe’s “A Million Reasons”

Traditional Country #510), Southern Rock (#562), and some Country Rap (#540) on the Country DDS.

A Million Reasons was never meant to be David Allan Coe’s official swan song or a capstone to his career. If anything, it was supposed to be a restart after years of decline in attention. Originally recorded in 2017 with the intent of being released on the country rap label Average Joes Entertainment founded by Colt Ford, it was ultimately shelved, then purchased by Coe’s co-manager and former Average Joes partner Ken Madson, and potentially kept for release after Coe passed, which happened on April 29th.

Any knowledgeable David Allan Coe fan knew to set their expectations low for this record. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have sat on a shelf for nearly 10 years. But A Million Reasons isn’t nearly as bad as one might anticipate, even if it’s definitely not as good as one could hope. It does capture Coe doing country rap. After all, that is who was buttering his bread, and Coe himself loved to brag how he was the one who “invented” rap in the first place. But those moments are fleeting, while there’s also a few touching moments, and perhaps a couple of worthy tracks to contribute to Coe’s more extended “Greatest Hits” catalog.

The intro to the album by wrestler Ric Flair is completely ridiculous and didn’t need to be included. Coe’s remake of “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” feels totally superfulous. “Roll Me a Smoke” with it’s attempt at Jimmy Buffett island time vibes is silly and bordering on embarrassing, despite some really great steel guitar on the track. Ditto for the big country rap track on the record, “Free My Mind,” which finds Coe at some of his braggadocios worst.

“Corner of Cash and Coe” also finds David doing that name-dropping and myth-building thing that he was rather notorious for throughout his career, trying to elevate his own legacy by piggy backing off of other performers—in this case, Johnny Cash. But there is an underlying sweetness and sincerity to the track as well, which is presented as a tribute to Johnny, who he definitely was friends with. And if you’re a long-time David Allan Coe fan, his myth-building and braggadocios nature is what you love, or at least, forgive.

Thankfully, the version of “Take This Job and Shove It” on A Million Reasons is not the same one that Coe made with the country rap duo The Moonshine Bandits. Instead, it’s actually a more energized and contemporary version of the track that’s not a bad take on it. The song “A Million Reasons” itself is not a bad song either, and perhaps is one of the big takeaways from the record. The context is that Coe had a judgement from the IRS go against him, and he was ordered to pay a million dollars in restitution.

Two songs on the album were co-written by Kid Rock, and neither of them are “Free My Mind” where Coe claims in the song itself that Kid was a co-writer. Neither of them are country rap songs either. One of them is one of the better songs on the album called “Only God Knows Why”—a very meaningful and introspective track. The other called “Single Father” tries to be sentimental, but is a little too clunky to accomplish it well, though maybe the single fathers out there will find some sentimentality in it.

David Allan Coe will ultimately not be remembered for the songs on this album, even if in moments, it makes for a touching epitaph. He will be remembered for the iconic hits, both the ones he sung, and the ones he wrote for others. He will be remembers as an iconoclast in the country realm. And for some, he will be remembered as a racist and an unsavory character, even if this misunderstands his legacy.

But make no mistake, David Allan Coe will be remembered. The mark he left behind on country was permanent. Nobody will ever be like David Allan Coe ever again, because for better or worse, nobody will ever be allowed to. The last decade of his life was like a blur, with a lot of unanswered questions and familial drama that never allowed Coe to enjoy a swan song. But A Million Reasons does fill in some of the gaps, and ends the story on a music note, and one that has its moments.

6.6/10

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