Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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FRIEDMAN, Kinky

(b Richard Friedman, 31 October 1944, Palatine TX) Country singer, bandleader. Psychology degree from U of Texas; served in the Peace Corps in Borneo; formed band the Texas Jewboys in Austin, playing outrageous country-flavoured stuff. First LP on Vanguard, Sold American '73 included 'Let Saigons Be Bygones', 'We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You'. One Friedman tune is called 'They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore'; another is "Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed': there was something to offend everyone. His black humour and four-letter words were toned down for an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry; he toured with part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review '76; the album title Lasso From El Paso '77 on Epic, disguised title song, actually 'Asshole From El Paso'. The act is a good example of the freedom in country music demanded by the era of 'redneck rock'.

He became a country music critic for Rolling Stone and a novelist with a series of detective stories about the Kinkster, a country singer turned detective: the books always get good reviews because they're so much fun to read, including The Greenwich Killer (made into a TV movie), A Case Of Lone Star, Frequent Flyer etc. An album Old Testaments And New Relationships '93 appeared on his own Fruit of the Tune label.

In the 21st century he began running for office, as an independent candidate for governor coming fourth in 2006. In 2014 he was running for agriculture commissioner on a platform of legalizing marijuana, to generate revenue, but also because 'That would castrate the Mexican drug cartels. Texas will be the new drug cartel.' He easily beat the Democratic candidate in a primary, but the state party worries that as fond of the Kinkster as Texas is, he isn't serious enough. He lost a run-off in May against a little-known Republican.

Friedman co-wrote The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full Of Ghosts, with close friend Billy Bob Thornton. Then The Loneliest Man I Ever Met in 2015 was his first studio album in 32 years, and a change of feeling, an album of songs by Tom Waits, Warren Zevon and others that Freidman insists are 'interpretations', not covers. Thornton says that 'he's such a Renaissance man, it's impossible to pigeonhole him.' Friedman said to Steve Dougherty in the Wall Street Journal, 'The record is just as sparse and simple as you can get [...It] does not sound like background music for a fraternity party.' The recording sessions were catered by Willie Nelson, who sang a duet on 'Bloody Mary Morning', and Friedman embarked on a tour of 35 shows without a night off.