By 1976 the outlaw country movement was in full swing as artists such as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were finally enjoying massive commercial success after years of fighting to record their music their own way.

He retired the Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy persona and billed his new album as "David Allan Coe Rides Again as the Longhaired Redneck," something equally off-putting to institution types.

[1]The outlaw country zeitgeist was summed up well in the title track of Longhaired Redneck, which recounts playing in a dive "where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies who are praying they'll get out of here alive."

Several of the songs, such as the prison lament "Revenge" and "Living on the Run," play up to the outlaw image, while "Spotlight" explores the lonely wasted existence of a country singer.

"Free Born Ramblin’ Man" is a more obvious derivative paean to Southern rock, with its Allman Brothers-like guitar intro and title evoking that band's biggest hit.