Kinky Friedman
b. Richard Friedman, 31 October 1944, Palestine, Texas, USA. Friedman, a Jew in Texas, remarks, ‘Cowboys and Jews have a common bond. They are the only two groups to wear their hats indoors and attach a certain importance to it.’ Friedman, whose father was a university lecturer, first recorded as part of the surfing band, King Arthur And The Carrots, in 1966. One of the Carrots, Jeff Shelby, was to become Little Jewford Shelby in Friedman's band, the Texas Jewboys, the name satirising Bob Wills' Texas Playboys. Chuck Glaser of the Glaser Brothers took him to Nashville for his first album, SOLD AMERICAN. The title song combined the qualities of Ralph McTell's Streets Of London with Phil Ochs’ Chords Of Fame and has been recorded by Glen Campbell and Tompall Glaser, the latter version being co-produced by Friedman. His Jewishness was emphasized in songs like We Refuse The Right To Refuse Service To You and Ride 'Em Jewboy. Friedman's single, Carryin' The Torch, an offbeat look at the Statue of Liberty, was produced by Waylon Jennings. KINKY FRIEDMAN was a patchy mixture of blasphemy and ballads, and included a good-natured romp produced by Willie Nelson, They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore. A hoarse recording of Sold American, recorded as part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, was included on LASSO FROM EL PASO. Buck Owens, who published Okie From Muskogee, refused to allow the album to be called Asshole From El Paso. Ol' Ben Lucas, about nose-picking, features Eric Clapton's guitar-picking, while Men's Room, L.A. is about a shortage of toilet paper and features Ringo Starr as Christ wanting to use the toilet. Friedman's own career never shone as bright as the 3D portrait of Christ he had at his home and, in 1977, he dropped his touring band and went solo. He also improved his diction so that his insults could be understood. He sang the title song of the film Skating On Thin Ice, and he was murdered in his acting role in Easter Sunday, a film starring Dorothy Malone and Ruth Buzzi. Friedman has become a perceptive writer writing on country music for Rolling Stone and his novel, Greenwich Killing Time, is about a country singer turned detective. In 1992 a collection of his novels was published by Faber & Faber. Friedman briefly returned to performing to promote this anthology, although his live sets merely reprised his old material. Friedman says his autobiography will be printed backwards, like old Jewish texts.