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

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Kinky Friedman at the 2023 Ameripolitan Awards


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.

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