Kinky Friedman: Iconoclast That Made The Right Kind of Trouble (RIP)

And now, life is a lot less colorful and kinky. But through the rewiring of our brains, the boundaries and buttons pushed, from the beautiful to the ribald, to the profound and the absolutely absurd, we are all gifted a world that is a little less uptight and a lot more cool, thanks to the incomparable Kinky Friedman.
As a musician, songwriter, iconoclast, poet, writer, politician, and cigar connoisseur, Kinky Friedman couldn’t help but pursue his passions no matter where they took him, and to stir the good kind of trouble whenever he got there. It was in Austin, Texas where Kinky Friedman graduated high school and college after being raised in the Texas Hill Country at his family’s summer camp compound, though he was born in Chicago on October 31st, 1944 to distinctly Jewish parents of Russian heritage.
After serving two years in the Peace Corps, Richard Samet Friedman adopted his nickname “Kinky” as a stage name, and founded Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys in 1973— a play off of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. With songs that went from inappropriate and offensive to politically strident, they immediately started making waves and stirring attention as Austin was quickly becoming the cooler alternative to Nashville. Songs like “The Ballad of Charles Whitman” about the Austin mass shooter became standards in the Austin scene and beyond.
“We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You,” “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns into Bed,” “Ride ‘Em Jewboy,” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” all poked fun at social norms, pissed off the right people, and helped instill a Jewish legacy in country music that previously had only existed in the shadows. Though some refute the claim, there is at least a chance the Kinky Friedman became the first full-blooded Jewish American to perform on the Grand Ole Opry stage. His episode of Austin City Limits was notoriously banned by PBS for bad language and other controversial material.
Kinky started opening shows for fellow Jewish American Bob Dylan, which helped garner him national recognition, and he found a base of support in New York. But Kinky Friedman’s career as a full-time musician wasn’t especially long-lasting. It had wrapped up mostly by the early 80s, but his early songs and records remain starkly relevant and influential even today, while being considered essential building blocks to the Austin music scene.
Not wanting to continue to struggle in music, Kinky Friedman pursued a different passion as a mystery writer and crime novelist, often casting a fictionalized version of himself in the story. He also wrote a regular column for the revered publication Texas Monthly, and also participated in a simulcast radio show. Kinky Friedman quickly became a spirit animal to many, with the foundation of his perennial coolness being his country music career where it all commenced.
This led to Kinky Friedman entering into the political fray, first seeking some local offices as both a Republican and a Democrat before making a serious run as an independent to be the Governor of Texas in 2004. In a wild race with five other candidates, Kinky ended up with 12.5% the vote, which was seen as a victory for an independent candidate, even though he ultimately lost.
Kinky Friedman’s political views were quite omnivorous. He was for the legalization of marijuana, and for banning toll roads. He wanted to legalize casino gambling to keep tax revenue from being outsourced to Louisiana and Oklahoma. He was also steadfastly against the standard political binary. After his failed bid for Texas governor, Kinky continued to pursue his writing career, while still performing both music and spoken word on a semi regular basis as he became an Elder Statesman of Texas.
But Kinky Freeman is not the kind of character that you can just rattle off the resume points off for in memoriam, and expect it to convey the critical and incredible influence this man had on culture across a curious array of important disciplines. In short, Kinky was Kinky. Like a Benjamin Franklin character, his contributions to life are simply embodied by the warm feeling one gets from just hearing his name.
Kinky Friedman died on June 27th, 2024 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He passed away at his Echo Hill Ranch in Bandera County, Texas—the same property where his family operated the summer camp. He was 79 years old.
June 27, 2024 @ 12:19 pm
“Yes, I’m a Judeo-Christian. Jesus and Moses are in my heart, and… both of them were independents, by the way.”
Kinky Friedman
June 27, 2024 @ 12:54 pm
“The Loneliest Man I Ever Met” is a fantastic late-career gem.
L’Chaim, Kinkster.
June 27, 2024 @ 1:03 pm
Loved Kinky got to meet him twice and had him sign one of last books for me. He was warm funny and such an icon in Texas history.
His work at his camp and dog and cat rescue are a great example of what kind of man he was , and then there is the music!
June 27, 2024 @ 1:49 pm
My first thought was – according to Malcolm Gladwell, this man does not exist (after all, he said there are no Jews in Country music, and Malcolm Gladwell would know, right?).
I lived in Austin in 2004. His run for governor was a breath of fresh air and his ads were gloriously iconoclastic.
RIP.
June 27, 2024 @ 1:58 pm
I hadn’t thought of Kinky Friedman in a while….and probably would have guessed that he was already dead. I’d also have guessed he was a bit older.…in his 80s…..from his being friends with or working with Dylan, Willie, Jerry Jeff, Levon, and Don Imus.
With Kinky, you just had to take it as a given that his songs and views were self-contradictory and didn’t necessarily make sense and were just meant to make you laugh. And they were funny, if you were not prone to take offense at oofensive, non p.c. humor. One of his best songs not mentioned above was “A__hole from El Paso,” inspired, of course, by a certain song about a town in Oklahoma. I wondered if Merle Haggard ever reacted to it or appeared anywhere with Kinky.
June 27, 2024 @ 2:39 pm
I am proud to say I voted for him for Governor of Texas in 2006 and somewhere I still have a campaign button.
June 27, 2024 @ 2:40 pm
1975’s Austin City Limits is wonderful. The band is rock solid and the set list perfect, including a rollicking version of Billy Swan’s “Lover Please.”
June 27, 2024 @ 4:08 pm
I’m guessing that most folks under 30 Firstly don’t know who he is, and Secondly, would hate his music and try to cancel him.
He is a man from an era before the dreaded social media, from a different time, back when this obscure and truly rarified concept existed that is quaintly antiquated today. That concept was called humor. ????
June 27, 2024 @ 4:09 pm
Kinky for Governor.
Why the Hell Not?
June 27, 2024 @ 4:33 pm
SUPERB tribute,Trig!
Kinky has been such an icon of coolness for so long that most folks nowadays probably don’t even realize he was a musician and songwriter first, and foremost.
For every “Asshole From El Paso” or “Ol’ Ben Lucas,” there were truly poignant gems like “Sold American.”
What a great songwriter and a great Texan!
Bless up, Kinkster!
June 27, 2024 @ 7:04 pm
The last time I was down in Austin, I was going to buy a copy of his CD, but was over my budget so had to put it back. Hopefully I can find one whenever I get there again. RIP Kinky. Thanks for the laughs and the interesting music.
June 27, 2024 @ 7:58 pm
I’m gonna miss him. The last time I saw him perform he played to a crowd of 33 people in a small bar in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2014. He said he needed to get a new road manager, who happened to be nearby. However, he was super kind to sign a couple of CDs for me. He also auctioned a few of his books, wine, and tequila for Utopia Rescue Ranch.
June 27, 2024 @ 8:15 pm
I got to meet him after a little show in the backroom of McCabe’s Guitar Shop out in Santa Monica, 2010 – after a great set of his cuts, covers, some readings, I had a LP of “Sold American” for him to sign which he did with flourish and we spent awhile talking about my (millenial) generation’s music buying habits and the industry in general – it was rambling and all over the place, I suppose at bit like himself. His last couple original albums were just such gems – “Autographs in the Rain” and “Me and Billy Swan” are always on rotation – and I just read in the NY Times obit he was readying another release, “Poet of Motel 6” which the song titled I’ve heard he wrote about Shaver. I can’t wait…
June 28, 2024 @ 7:15 am
I’m reminded of a couple of things he said. First he was an early proponent of gay marriage. Why? He said gay people had the right to be as miserable in marriage as straight people. Second he said when he died he wanted to be cremated and spread in Rick Perry’s hair. RIP Kinky….
June 28, 2024 @ 4:10 pm
Thanks for the article, Trigger. Yes, Kinky was a lot more. His books are full of wisdom and belly-laughs. And his last three albums are real gems. Totally underrated, Kinky was a great writer. Bob Dylan knew even back then. Now Kinky’s been bugled to Jesus. I hope they have fun!
July 2, 2024 @ 5:36 pm
Funny guy, seemed like a good and complex egg. His serious songs are amazing.
“Nashville Casualty and Life” is a regular play.
July 3, 2024 @ 4:17 pm
A preacher, a priest, and a rabbi walk into a honky tonk and sit down at a table by the stage. The singer of the band asks them “what are you gentlemen in the mood for tonight?”
It’s loud, but the singer hears the preacher say “Strait”.
Then he thinks he hears the rabbi say “Something Kinky”.
Then he thinks he hears the priest say “I love ‘em fair and young”
That’s all I got. RIP Kinky.