Musician and slapstick comedian Kinky Friedman, who killed sacred cows, dies at 79

Kinky Friedman, a singer, songwriter, stand-up comedian and one-time baby-kisser who, with his band, the Texas Jewboys, created a cult following among music fans across the country with songs such as “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus”. Developed an enthusiastic following. Anymore” — and whose biting cultural observations have drawn comparisons to Will Rogers and Mark Twain — died Wednesday at his ranch home in Austin, Texas. He was 79 years old.

His band member and an established friend, Tiny Gewford, reported the death. He did not give a reason, but said Mr. Friedman had been ill in recent months.

Mr. Friedman established a new niche on the margins of the American mainstream tradition with acts such as Jello Biafra, The Lifeless Milkmen and Mojo Nixon. He broke into the mainstream again with songs that mixed vaudeville, Outlaw Nation and hokum, a dirty taste of avant-garde tunes, such as “Asshole from El Paso” and “We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You”. Shown through the track.

With a bushy mustache, sideburns, a Honduran cigar and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, he played his own version of the Texas-influenced country song, poking provocative laughs at Jewish culture, American politics and a larger dimension of sacred cows. Feminism – The National Group for Women once gave her the “Male Chauvinist Pig Award”.

Behind the jokes, there was his musical critical ability. He sang with sunlight, deep intonation, a warm tone, and played guitar in a spare, simple style borrowed from one of his idols, Ernest Tubb.

He toured extensively with his band and solo in the 1970s, including on the second leg of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in 1976. He performed on “Saturday Night Live” and the Brilliant Ole Opry – Mister Friedman. Claimed to be the first Jewish composer to do so (even though in reality he was beaten by others, including fiddler Jean Lowinger).

Another program, recorded for the TV show “Austin City Limits”, was deemed so dirty that it was never aired.

In the 1980s, after the band’s heyday, Mr. Friedman began writing detective novels, using the same blind irreverence he brought to the level in books like “Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned” (2001). “God Bless John Wayne” (1995).

He also wrote a column for Texas Monthly Brochure in the 2000s, flying his unique flag in rural Texas with articles about politics, music, and the month.

But behind his strangeness there was a surprising honesty. Mr. Friedman founded a farm to rescue animals. He and his sister, Marcy, ran Echo Hill Camp, which they inherited from their parents and which they provided, in addition to paying for the children of parents who died while serving in the U.S. Army.

And while many considered his far-fetched run for Texas governor in 2006 a farcical story, he insisted it was important — and given the new successes of Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger, why not now?

He pledged on one platform to demand drug legalization, end the smoking ban, and reduce the speed limit from 55 to 54.95 miles per hour. However he also called for higher salaries for lecturers and a ban on illegal immigration. He came in fourth place with 12 percent of the vote; Republican incumbent Rick Perry received re-election.

However, it could be difficult to discern when Mr. Friedman was joking and when he was serious – which, in his mind, was the reason. A song like “Ride ‘Em Jewboy”, with its hilarious, offensive title, was actually a sad parable about the Holocaust.

“They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” was about anti-Semitism, and “The Ballad of Charles Whitman”, apparently about the shooter who killed 16 people in Austin in 1966 Texas’ love of all things was sharply criticized and derogatory. (“‘It’s adolescence/And certainly it’s most unpleasant/But I have to admit it’s a lovely way to go.'”) cried the Chancellor.

However, he was not above merely eliciting laughs, and the alternative songs contained little nuance. “Put your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed”, a jibe at feminism released at the height of the women’s movement in 1973, earned condemnation from girls’ teams; Mr. Friedman said that during a concert that week in Buffalo, a group of “crank-up homosexuals” stormed the stage.

Of course, his biggest target was always himself.

“With a name like Kinky,” he told The Untouched York Instances in 1995, “you have to be famous, otherwise it’s a social embarrassment.”

Richard Samet Friedman was born on November 1, 1944 in Chicago to Thomas Friedman, a psychologist, and Minnie (Samet) Friedman, a speech therapist. Shortly after his birth, they moved to the Texas Hill Nation, west of Austin, where his parents established and ran Echo Hill Ranch. His father also taught at the University of Texas.

As a child, Richard worked at the camp, played competitive chess and got into his cowboy character, while proudly embracing his Judaism; When he was 9 years old, he refused to participate in his college’s Christmas pageant.

He began playing music in high school with his friend and co-religionist Tiny Gewford (born Jeff Shelby). Western swing, a unique blend of country, polka and jazz, was at its peak, and he based himself on the prodigies of that genre like Milton Brown and Bob Wills.

“I was the bastard child of twin cultures, and they had a lot in common, cowboys and Jews,” Mr. Friedman told The Aspen Instances in 2006. “They both wear their hats indoors.”

He never married. He is survived by a brother, Roger, and a sister, Marcy Friedman.

Mr. Friedman studied psychology at the University of Texas, where a friend, noticing his always curly hair, nicknamed him Kinky. After graduating the following year in 1966, he spent two years in Borneo with Sleep Corps before returning to Texas and his music business.

His first band, King Arthur and the Carrots, performed songs parodying surf rock; Its most influential single, “Schwinn 24,” is about a boy and his bicycle, playing off Seaside Boys songs about cars and women. He joined Tiny Gewford and 6 alternative musicians to direct Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys in 1973 – all with names of varying degrees like Wichita Culpepper and Sky Cap Adams.

The band was part of a rising trend of country-rock bands along with acts like Gram Parsons, the Eagles, and the Band. Following the release of two well-received albums, “Sold American” (1973) and “Kinky Friedman” (1974), he became known for himself as an interval act for megastars such as Mr. Dylan and Willie Nelson.

Friendly and warm, Mr. Friedman easily made friends, including Mr. Nelson, a fellow chess player, and the radio host Don Imus, who made him a regular guest on his show. Although he found himself playing it somewhat dry this month: “There is a fine line between fiction and nonfiction,” he wrote in 2004, “and I believe Jimmy Buffett and I drew it in 1976.” Had understood.”

After the Texas Jewboys in 1979, he moved to Untouchable York, where he performed short solo shows in clubs and coffeehouses around his home in Greenwich Village.

In 1984, he was walking along a street looking for cigars when he saw a man attacking a woman. He pulled them aside and waited for the police to arrive.

Then, they realized the girl was Kathy Smith, who was accused of injecting comedian John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1983.

He advised Texas Monthly in 1993, “Out of the 12 million people in the city, it had to be him.”

Mr. Friedman returned to Texas in 1986, in an effort to live somewhat sober. He lived at Echo Hill Ranch and did laundry for the camp instead of renting. He ran for justice for relief near Kerrville, but later lost a newspaper that revealed he had let 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman stay at the camp.

The incident with Ms. Smith affected her other occupation as an editor. Understanding a light green trailer at Camp Feature, with just a cat and a puppy armadillo for corporate, he wrote 18 books, including novels and essays.

Most of his myth, setting in with the 1986 album “Greenwich Killing Time”, offered a more gonzo version of his personal month, built around a Texas private detective also named Kinky Friedman. Who solved strange crimes around Untouched York.

Alternative titles had equally ridiculous names, including “Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola” and “The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover”. His books became a hit in both America and Europe, eventually selling over six million copies.

Mr. Friedman announced his run for governor in 2004 in front of the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. Early slogans – “My governor is a Jewish shepherd,” “How hard can it be?” – It seemed as if it would detect serious intentions.

However, with the help of Mr. Nelson and other Texas music personalities such as Lyle Lovett, their marketing campaign took off quickly.

“We’ve reached a point where Texans are taking this more seriously than I am,” he told Aspen Instances. “I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

His lack of preparation was confirmed, particularly during a debate between Mr Perry and the alternative applicants. However, his raw exterior charm attracted hundreds of voters.

“The hopes of Texans are riding on it – cowboys, teachers, college students. Everyone,” he said. “I think the spirit of Texas is on board with this campaign.”

After the race, Mr. Friedman returned to his Texas Monthly column, which he continued to write until 2010. He also returned to music, playing alone or with his used friends in the Texas Jewboys. He entered politics twice, running unsuccessfully for the post of Agriculture Commissioner in 2010 and 2014.

And he spent a lot of time in his farm. The Echo Hill camp closed in 2013, but three years ago, she and her sister revived it, focusing on helping the children of fallen provider individuals as well as refugee families from Afghanistan. .

“There was a volunteer there who fixed the water heater, who I went to thank,” he told the Texas Highway Brochure in 2023. “He said, ‘You’re welcome. I’m doing this for Jesus.’ I told him, ‘I’m doing this for Moses.’