The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

My opinion

McGinn: Wyatt McCubbin survives encounter with legendary outlaw

Southeastern High junior Wyatt McCubbin (right) poses with outlaw legend David Allan Coe (center) and his wife at the Coe home in August. Coe made a name for himself by writing "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)," a No. 1 hit for Tanya Tucker in 1974.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Southeastern High junior Wyatt McCubbin holds David Allan Coe's double-necked guitar, a gift from the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Taste of Cincinnati expected  to draw 500,000 people
5/23/12
Local ingredients key for bartender
5/16/12
How well do you know Kings Island?
5/13/12
Time cover shows mom breastfeeding 3-year-old
5/11/12
Local heroes bring a touch of realism to 'Avengers' Cleveland set
5/2/12
> More headlines

By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 8:58 AM Friday, September 16, 2011

I’ve done a lot of stories lately on Wyatt McCubbin, the 16-year-old Southeastern High junior who writes and sings country music like a man who already can see right through people.

It’s freaky, but it’s like he’s Waylon 2.0 — the newer model with all of the intuition and none of the addiction.

So, frankly, if you don’t want to read another piece on Wyatt, you can take this story and shove it.

The tale of how Wyatt recently came to find himself playing and singing at the feet of David Allan Coe — the outlaw extraordinaire most famous for writing “Take This Job and Shove It” for Johnny Paycheck — needs to be told.

On one hand, it’s a cool story about a kid getting to meet his musical hero, a born and bred Ohioan whom Nashville always kept at arm’s length despite obvious talent as a songsmith.

“If you talk outlaws, he’s the main dog,” Wyatt explained. “You’ve got Waylon and Willie, but this dude right here took it to the extreme.”

It’s worth noting that, from the age of 9, Coe spent most of his formative years in some kind of correctional facility operated by the state of Ohio.

Hell, his website mentions it twice — just in case you didn’t get it through your skull the first time that even a 72-year-old longhaired redneck is not to be screwed with.

Rumor has it he taught Charles Manson, himself an Ohio boy, how to play guitar behind bars.

True or false, Coe is the real (insert your expletive of choice here) deal.

So in June, while sitting around the fire at a southern Ohio campground with family and friends, Wyatt naturally honored a request to sing “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” which had been a Top 10 hit for Coe himself in 1975.

“By the time I got to, ‘You don’t have to call me darlin, darlin,’ “this dude come runnin’. He almost took out one of those torches,” Wyatt said.

“He said, ‘My brother-in-law would really like that.’ So we said, ‘Bring him over.’

“He goes, ‘No, my brother-in-law’s David Allan Coe.’ ”

Yeah, right. Right?

“That’s kind of a hard story to make up,” Wyatt conceded.

With nothing to lose, Wyatt gave the guy his number.

Not long after, Coe’s wife called, explaining how her brother wouldn’t shut up about this kid at the campground.

Coe and his old lady had watched Wyatt for themselves on YouTube — and how would Wyatt and his family like to come to their house for a cookout?

So in mid-August, the McCubbins set out for the affluent Indian Hill suburb of Cincinnati to dine with an ex-con whose first album, 1969’s “Penitentiary Blues,” consisted of songs he wrote in prison.

And in true outlaw fashion, Coe wasn’t there.

His wife was.

His mother-in-law was.

Coe himself was en route from a gig in Tennessee.

“You can’t impress Coe,” Wyatt said. “We were at his house for four or five hours before he showed up.”

That called for a tour of Casa de Coe.

When the tour hit Coe’s office, the McCubbins got a kick out of seeing one of my recent stories on Wyatt laid out on his desk.

But when he finally showed up, he only wanted to eat.

“We all ate,” Wyatt recalled, “and then he fell asleep on the couch. They got the nerve to wake him up to listen to me.”

Wyatt played a handful of originals as Coe sat there.

“My heart was beatin’ so hard,” Wyatt said, “it was like I had boxing gloves on. He didn’t take his eyes off my fingers the whole time.”

Somebody then suggested he play a Coe song.

Ever the fan, Wyatt chose a 1974 B-side, “I Still Sing the Old Songs.”

“As soon as I started,” he said, “that’s when he opened up.”

“It was like a switch,” added Wyatt’s dad, Frank McCubbin. “Wyatt touched his heart.”

For the next three hours, Coe played, sang, dispensed advice and told story after story about the likes of Paycheck and Charlie Rich.

It was like one real deal suddenly sensed the presence of another real deal.

“I told Wyatt, ‘This is awesome that you’re going to meet David Allan Coe,’ ” Frank McCubbin said, “ ‘but you don’t need to follow in his footsteps for everything.’”

Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.

See him live

Who: Wyatt McCubbin

When: 10 p.m. Sept. 16

Where: Spirits, 2118 N. Limestone St. (18 and older only)

Cost: $5

Share this article