Richard “Kinky” Friedman was born in Chicago, but moved to Texas when his father started teaching at the University of Texas in the fifties. Friedman would go on to graduate from the school and do a three year stint in the Peace Corps before forming his infamous band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.
A satirist in almost every conceivable manner, the singer/songwriter would record several albums with his band throughout the seventies. Songs such as “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” and “Ride ‘em Jewboy” tackled subjects like anti-Semitism with a frankness not before seen in country music and earned Friedman a loyal cult following. By the end of the decade he had toured with Bob Dylan and recorded with Eric Clapton. He released his last studio album in 1983.
Kinky transformed his knack for songwriting into a knack for book writing throughout the eighties, penning a series of detective fiction novels. By the start of the millennium he was a regular columnist for Texas Monthly. Always the rabble-rouser, Friedman ran for governor in his home state of Texas in 2006. He lost with a little more than 12% of the popular vote.
1973: Sold American
1974: Kinky Friedman
1976: Lasso from El Paso
1982: Live From the Lone Star Café (Live)
1983: Under the Double Ego
1992: Old Testaments and New Revelations (Best Of)
1995: From One Good American to Another (Best Of)
http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/
http://www.myspace.com/voteforkinky
