Two unreleased-recording projects are surfacing this year from artists linked by an old, mostly unspoken piece of country history: John Prine was an uncredited co-writer, alongside Steve Goodman, of David Allan Coe's signature hit "You Never Even Called Me By My Name." On August 21, Sun Records will release Texas Moon (Deluxe), an album Coe originally recorded in 1973 with his road band for Plantation Records, featuring covers of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver and Jackson Browne alongside Coe originals "Mary Magdeline" and "Fuzzy Was An Outlaw."
The album was not released until 1977, after Coe had already signed to Columbia, and it got a CD reissue in 1993. Its cover, featuring Coe and his road band, plus a dog, mooning the camera, made the record nearly as notorious for its packaging as for its songs. This deluxe edition adds previously unreleased demos David cut with Plantation Records' Shelby Singleton and marks the album's first pressing on vinyl in four decades.
On October 9, John Prine's label Oh By Records will release Found Dogs, a collection of demos, alternate takes and acoustic performances tied to the 30th anniversary of his 1995 album Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings. The set includes five previously unreleased Prine originals, including "World Without Love," which is already out. Found Dogs was previewed in part in April for Record Store Day; October's release is the wide release. The original sessions were produced by Howie Epstein of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with several songs co-written alongside Gary Nicholson.
Found Dogs arrives one day before what would have been Prine's 80th birthday. The release coincides with a broader celebration of his life, including a Chicago concert series called Souvenirs: 80 Years of John Prine, featuring performers such as Hayes Carll, Margo Price, Steve Earle, Nathaniel Rateliff, Noeline Hofmann, Billy Prine and Briscoe.
Both projects follow a wider trend among deceased or retired country artists of releasing unheard material for longtime fans, a group that this year also includes Waylon Jennings, alongside Gary Stewart, Don Williams and Randy Travis. Saving Country Music's Trigger, responding to a reader question, said the Coe reissue "seems more an effort by Sun Records to make sure Coe's catalog from the Plantation era is accessible."
Both reissue projects join the rest of the fall's new country releases on the release calendar, a reminder that Prine and Coe's paths crossed on paper years before either project was ever announced.
The facts
- Texas Moon (Deluxe) is a reissue of David Allan Coe's 1973 album, out August 21 via Sun Records
- Found Dogs collects unreleased John Prine material, out October 9
- John Prine and Steve Goodman were uncredited co-writers of Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name"
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