DAVID ALLAN COE, Country Music Outlaw And PANTERA Collaborator, Dies At 86

Country/western outlaw musician David Allan Coe, who collaborated with PANTERA members Vinnie Paul Abbott, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and Rex Brown on a project called REBEL MEETS REBEL more than two decades ago, has died. He was 86.

Coe's wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone magazine, saying: "One of the best singers, songwriters, and performers of our time [and] never to be forgotten. My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years. I'll never forget him and I don't want anyone else to ever forget him either."

A representative for Coe said the singer died in intensive care at around 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 29.

"David is a musical treasure," the representative said, adding that Coe "appreciated all of the fans."

A cause of death was not immediately released.

REBEL MEETS REBEL's debut album was released in May 2006 via Vinnie Paul's Big Vin Records.

Coe wrote all the songs with Dimebag around 2000, a few years before the guitarist was murdered onstage in December 2004.

"Being from Texas, not only do we have rock roots, but we listen to country and blues," Vinnie Paul explained to MTV News in early 2000. "Before our shows, we'd play 'Jack Daniels, If You Please' off of one of [Coe's] CDs.... He caught wind of it, and we went out to see him when he played Billy Bob's. He was just a super cool dude. It was fun to check him out, and we hooked him up with a couple of our home videos, and he called us back a couple days later and just said, 'Man, these fucking videos are incredible. I really dig what you guys do.' He knows more about PANTERA than I do now."

The fast friendship soon yielded a creative partnership, as Vinnie Paul explained. "We started hooking up and jamming and doing some tunes, and they're pretty unique. Some of them are just like an up-tempo thrash metal hoedown with a country and western singer," the drummer said.

REBEL MEETS REBEL's CD was recorded over a four-year period between 1999 and 2003 and contained a total of 12 tracks, including "Nothin' To Lose", "Rebel Meets Rebel", "Cowboys", "Panfillo", "Heartworn Highway", "One Night Stand", "Arizona Rivers", "A Man With Nothin' Ain't Got Nothin' To Lose", "New York City Streets" and "Get Outta My Life".

It was originally reported that the album's title track, "Rebel Meets Rebel", would be a duet between Coe and PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo, but Vinnie Paul later said that was never the case.

Coe, who was married six times, was widely panned for his use of slurs and racial stereotypes in his songs, but he had consistently denied he was racist. He was also criticized for frequently using the Confederate flag.