Unreleased John Prine, David Allan Coe Songs Grace New Projects
On the surface maybe, pairing up John Prine and David Allan Coe might feel a little awkward. But those who know their country history are familiar with the fact that John Prine was the unspoken co-writer of David Allan Coe’s big hit and signature song “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” with Steve Goodman. So there is a correlation.
But otherwise, these two have nothing to do with each other currently, aside from the fact that just like a bevy of other deceased or vocally incapacitated country performers—including Waylon Jennings, Gary Stewart, Don Williams, Randy Travis, and others—they’re getting on board with releasing unreleased and previously-unheard tracks as part of upcoming projects (here’s looking at you, Merle Haggard estate).
Maybe you’re not into listening to demos, remainders, and seconds. But for many hardcore fans, they want their ears to touch most anything their favorite artists recorded.
On August 21st, Sun Records will be releasing Texas Moon (Deluxe), which was originally recorded in 1973 with Coe’s road band at the time for Plantation Records. It finds Coe covering songs from Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver and Jackson Browne, and others, along with the Coe originals “Mary Magdeline” and “Fuzzy Was An Outlaw.”
The album wasn’t actually released until 1977 when Coe had already signed to Columbia since they bought the rights to it but never released it. It was also reissued on CD in 1993. Texas Moon was also notorious because the cover featured Coe and his band (and even a dog ) “mooning” the camera. Now it’s being reissued to include previously unreleased demos David did with Plantation Records’ Shelby Singleton. This will also be the first time the album is being issued on vinyl in four decades.
To pre-order/pre-save Texas Moon (Deluxe), CLICK HERE.
On October 9th, John Prine’s Oh By Records will be doing their own reissue of unreleased recordings in an album they’re calling Found Dogs. The expanded reissue coincides with the 30th Anniversary release of Prine’s 1995 album Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings. It’s also being released the day before what would have been John Prine’s 80th Birthday.
Found Dogs comes with demos, alternative takes, and acoustic solo performances, along with five previously-unreleased John Prine original songs, including “World Without Love” that is out now. Though the album was initially previewed in April as part of Record Store Day, this will be the Found Dogs wide release. The original album was produced by Howie Epstein of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame, and features multiple co-writes with Gary Nicholson.
The release is part of a greater celebration of the life of John Prine around his 80th birthday that will include a concert series in Chicago called Souvenirs: 80 Years of John Prine, with artists such as Hayes Carll, Margo Price, Steve Earle, Nathaniel Rateliff, Noeline Hofmann, Billy Prine, Briscoe, and others performing.
To pre-order/pre-save Found Dogs, CLICK HERE.
August 9, 2026 @ 11:01 am
just more of miss kim trying to screw the children outta everything Coe…
August 9, 2026 @ 11:43 am
Have a deeper story about that coming up, but this seems more an effort by Sun Records to make sure Coe’s catalog from the Plantation era is accessible.
August 9, 2026 @ 11:28 am
Texas Moon was an outstanding album. A lot of spirit in it. Maybe the best version of “Give My Love to Rose”
August 9, 2026 @ 12:13 pm
Texas Moon is streaming on Apple Music in case anyone cares to give it a listen
August 9, 2026 @ 12:18 pm
Listened a littleto the john prine album on spotify. World without love is a good song hopefully the others will be as well. They have a few other songs versions of released songs to listen to. My favorite is humidity build the snowman. Thats a song i had missed sonehow and the acoustic version is awesome. I unfortunately got into john too late in his and my life. I look forward to hearing the rest. Thank you for letting me know about it.
August 9, 2026 @ 12:35 pm
Even if the current crop of previously unreleased music by legendary artists may not measure up to what they created in their primes, it does remind us of what made them legends in the first place. And gives fans old and new something to look forward to.
August 9, 2026 @ 3:14 pm
The world could us some John Prine these days!
August 9, 2026 @ 3:38 pm
I imagine that with the complexity of the music business, there are some albums that were not released – not because they were not good enough, but for other business reasons. This is potentially wonderful news because these two artists are absolute masters of the craft
August 9, 2026 @ 7:48 pm
There are also cuts that never made it onto albums at the time for various reasons like the song was a hit for another artist or was too similar to another one that the artist had released. There are two cuts on Waylon’s upcoming Diamonds that remind me of Ain’t Living Long Like This, which is probably why I like them.
August 9, 2026 @ 7:51 pm
There have been albums left behind when an artist left a label or got lost in a corporate takeover. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything on them worth listening to, especially when the artist isn’t putting out anything new.
August 9, 2026 @ 4:20 pm
Im kind of simple a little bit and i had to google exactly what the main part about humidity buid the snowman, sunsine brought him down meant exactly. I knew the jist but i needed some help. The part about not walking around her part of town was poignant as well, meaning hes just moving on instead of wondering why. Probably great advice but not always easy.
August 10, 2026 @ 8:47 am
I selected a number of John Prine CD’s on your site but I don’t know if the order went through. The page cut off before I could provide the payment information probably on my end.
Please contact me at +19142467309
August 10, 2026 @ 9:01 am
This is not a John Prine website, and we don’t sell John Prine’s music. This is a news article about the release of John Prine music. You would need to contact them directly.
August 10, 2026 @ 12:30 pm
DAC also covered John Prine’s song, “Hello in There” and had it as the title of the album it was on.
August 11, 2026 @ 7:32 am
Texas Moon is one of Coe’s better records, even if the album art would probably be better suited for one of his less serious and more dirty records.
Fuzzy Was An Outlaw is a particular highlight in my opinion, great biker oriented tune.
August 11, 2026 @ 10:37 am
I had a foreign pressing once, I think from Spain, with a different cover – Coe was in a western poncho looking down at the camera, something like that. I ended up selling it awhile back – I loved the songs, “These Days” especially, but I never seemed to listen to it, the album felt too, for lack of better description, too demo-like, quiet, muted compared to those rich early Columbia ones.
August 13, 2026 @ 5:12 am
I venture to say Texas Moon contains the best version of “These Days,” Coe’s delivery is so intensely emotional in a way that he owns that song in my eyes. Kinda quirky lo-fi production that was Singleton’s signature sonic palette around that time, really suits David, but it’s worlds apart from the professionalism of Coe’s work at Columbia. Mostly a downcast album, atmospheric and gritty, an Alt-country edge looking back. Glad Sun is making Texas Moon available again, it’s one of my favorites. Album art not a masterpiece of graphic design.
August 14, 2026 @ 10:50 pm
Totally agreed about “These Days.”