Kinky Friedman, the tongue-in-cheek humorist and alt-country musician of the Texas Jewboys, has died, bandmate Little Jewford confirmed to The New York Times. “Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by family & friends,” reads a press release posted to the late artist’s social media. “Kinkster endured tremendous pain & unthinkable loss in recent years but he never lost his fighting spirit and quick wit. Kinky will live on as his books are read and his songs are sung.” Friedman was 79.
Born Richard Samet Friedman on Halloween in 1944, he was raised by his mother and father—each the youngsters of Russian Jewish immigrants—in Chicago, Illinois, earlier than the household moved to Texas Hill Country when Friedman was a younger boy. While majoring in psychology at University of Texas at Austin, Friedman shaped his first band, the surf-rock parody group King Arthur & the Carrots, whetting his urge for food for satirical music. He graduated in 1966 along with his diploma and the nickname “Kinky,” given to him by fellow scholar and musician Chinga Chavin for his curly hair.
Come 1973, he began Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, a rustic rock group bent on parodying taboo topics and on a regular basis subjects alike. Friedman initially discovered underground fame as a Western singer, and a charmed Commander Cody (of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen) linked him with Vanguard Music, on which Friedman launched his debut, Sold American. The subsequent yr, Kinky Friedman, the highest-charting album of his profession, got here out on ABC Records. After releasing Lasso From El Paso, in 1976, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys had been invited to open the second leg of Bob Dylan’s famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
With the Texas Jewboys, Friedman repeatedly sang about taking delight in his Jewish heritage, typically funneled via raucous jokes (“They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore”) and sometimes sobering tributes (“Ride ’Em Jewboy”). His lyrics additionally took intention at social prejudices (“We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You”), mass shooters (“The Ballad of Charles Whitman”), and feminism (“Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns into Bed”), amongst different subjects.
While Friedman’s lyrics had been supposed to lampoon topics, not everybody was laughing. During a 1973 live performance in Buffalo, New York, a gaggle of girls whom Friedman described as “cranked-up lesbians” bought right into a struggle along with his band throughout their efficiency of “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns into Bed,” forcing the present to finish early. Later that yr, the National Organization for Women awarded Friedman the Male Chauvinist Pig Award, a lot to his delight. Two years later, Buffy Sainte-Marie stormed the stage at Friedman’s San Francisco present to grab the battle bonnet off his head; Friedman had donned the garment whereas performing “Miss Nickelodeon,” a track parodying Indigenous folks.
