Sandy Pinkard, Country Music’s Weird Al, Has Passed Away

He was a singer, he was a songwriter, and with his partner Richard Bowden, he was one of the most prolific and beloved parody artists in country music. Nobody coined him the “Weird Al of Country Music” in his time, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve it. He was Sandy Pinkard, and his legacy was making country music fans laugh.

There was a serious side to Sandy Pinkard as well, and that would be remarkable enough to mark Pinkard’s passing on July 26th at the age of 78. As a songwriter without his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek, he co-wrote songs like the #1 hit for Mel Tillis, “Coca Cola Cowboy,” David Frizzell & Shelly West’s #1 duet “You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma” that went on to win the 1981 ACM Song of the Year, the #1 song “Blessed Are the Believers” for Anne Murray in 1981, and Vern Gosdin’s #1 “I Can Tell By The Way You Dance.”

Born James Sanford Pinkard Jr. on January 16, 1947, in Abbeville, Louisiana, Sandy joined the Air Force when he was younger, and served in the Vietnam War. When he returned to the states, Pinkard wanted to pursue being a country singer, but didn’t have much luck convincing a label to take a chance on him. That is when he turned to songwriting, which got his foot in the door of the music. But once folks in Nashville knew his name, he figured out a way he could get up on stage and entertain after all: comedy.

With his singing and writing partner Richard Bowden, they formed the comedy duo Pinkard & Bowden in 1984. Originally from Linden, Texas, Bowden had been a childhood friend of Don Henley, and played with Henley in numerous bands before the formation of The Eagles. Musician and record executive Jim Ed Norman introduced Pinkard and Bowden, and they began writing songs together.

Though the duo had original comedy songs as well like “I Lobster But Never Flounder,” parody songs is what became the duo’s signature. Signed to Warner Bros. Records, they released five albums between 1985 and 1993, and released 12 singles, including five that made the charts. Just looking through the titles of some of their parody songs is enough for a laugh.

• “Mama She’s Lazy” (“Mama He’s Crazy” – The Judds)
• “She Thinks I Steal Cars” (“She Thinks I Still Care” – George Jones)
• “Drivin’ My Wife Away” (“Drivin’ My Life Away – Eddie Rabbitt)
• “Blue Hairs Driving in My Lane” (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” Willie Nelson)
• “Delta Dawg” (“Delta Dawn” – Tanya Tucker)
• “Help Me Make It Through the Yard” (“Help Me Make It Through The Night” – Sammi Smith)
• “Libyan on a Jet Plane” (“Leaving on a Jet Plane” – John Denver)
• “Somebody Done Somebody’s Song Wrong” (Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song – B.J. Thomas)
• “Friends in Crawl Spaces” (“Friends in Low Places” – Garth Brooks)
• ….and many more

Pinkard & Bowen albums like Writers in Disguise and Cousins, Cattle, and Other Love Stories became cult favorites. But like so many catalogs in country music, most of their music remains out-of-print, and difficult to impossible to find on streaming services, at least in complete form. The duo loved to pick on the country music industry, including in their song “Music Industry,” which was a parody of “Islands in the Stream.”

The duo also had the distinction of being one of the first country music acts with explicit content warnings on some of their albums. Though some of their material was family friendly (one of their albums was named PG-13), they often got profane and lewd. Their parody of Garth’s “Friends in Low Places” (“Friends in Crawl Spaces”) was about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. They were ultimately banned from TNN.

Sandy Pinkard had been living in Kingwood, West Virginia, where he passed away at his home.

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